Silver Griffin: Rise of a New Guild
by Raiyane
Summary: REBOOT! No longer accepting OCs! Silver Griffin has been a run down guild for long enough, and with new, powerful mages on the scene, maybe its time for the Griffin to soar to new heights! Read as a run-down guild tries to make a name for itself in the country of Fiore!
1. Chapter 1 xPrologue

_**Author's Note: **__Hiya, guys~ I'm Raiyane and feel free to call me Rai if you wish. ^.^ Welcome to the Silver Griffin: Rise of a New Guild, reboot! If you're new, don't worry! The old fic will be or has been deleted, so you don't need to have read it! This will be a fic about an OC guild and their adventures and such! It will be a long term project. Why am I rebooting it, you ask? Many, many reasons, but I will give you guys the ones that come off the top of my head(Feel free to skip the next paragraph if you don't care why it's a reboot): _

_Many of the creators of the original OCs are inactive and this gives me lots of problems since I didn't make my character form detailed enough and so now I can't get information I need for the story. I want to be a bit stricter on OCs. Last time, I didn't care if people followed my form, but I really want people to follow my form. Silver Griffin was my first ever Fairy Tail fic, and since it won't be this, I feel as though it can be a lot better this time around. I want to focus a lot more on character development and details. I feel as though it may have been harder for the readers to feel attached to OCs that weren't theirs. This hopefully won't be the case this time. I want to cut out a lot of interaction with canon characters. They will still appear from time to time, especially if I do a GMGs arc, but there will be no Canon x OC pairings. This went over bad with some people, and I apologize. I don't feel as though Silver Griffin really grew as a guild in the last fic; the members didn't really ever show progress and almost all of them were in the guild at the beginning. This won't be the case. I'll introduce most of them, apart from maybe a few, in the introduction arc, but only a few of them will be in the guild at the start. Finally, I wanted Silver Griffin to be a long term project, but I feel that I was heading in the wrong direction in making it this._

_Anyway, so… OC submissions are closed. If you've told me you'll be sending an OC, you may still send them, but otherwise, I don't want anymore OCs. Also, if you've decided that you won't be sending an OC, please tell me! Enjoy this fic and lots of love! Sorry for vanishing for so long! Feel free to shoot me a PM with questions~_

_**Warnings: **__This will include a good bit of romance in it, though it will be kept T. I'm also not against Yaoi/Yuri so there may be hints of that. There will be language and violence, but not too much gore. Just blood splats and bruises sometimes. So… Consider yourself warned as to the type of fic this is._

_I don't own Fairy Tail, though Winter and Crystal Esmera, their friends, and the concept of Silver Griffin belong to me. _

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><p>Welcome to Nadeshiko, a fair sized town that lies less than 20 miles from the southwestern coast of Fiore, a grand country of magic. This town is a peaceful stop for many travelers; those seeking the harbor town of Lotus, those who are coming from the western mountains in seek of large guilds like Fairy Tail or Lamia Scale, and those who are weary and need to rest. Due to this, even though the population of the tranquil town is by no means large, the town is always bustling with activity. The streets of Nadeshiko are dark cobblestone and many of them are lined with trees and night shade flowers. Purple seems to be to be the color of the town as many of the stone buildings are accented with purple. There is a town square in the center of Nadeshiko, where some of the most popular shops are located around it. In the center, there is a large fountain that has lacrima embedded into it, making it spew lavender colored water.<p>

As the town is always bustling with travelers, there are many small trinket shops and cafes that profit from this activity. The largest buildings appear to be the inns and apartment complexes, most of which stand several stories high. The town itself is bordered to the east by a large river, to the north by lots of plains and eventually Crocus and the National Capital, to the west by mountains and to the south by the town of Lotus. The closest of the larger mage guilds is Lamia Scale, which lies across the river. Traveling there would still take many days, though. \

There exists only one known guild in Nadeshiko, a mages' guild by the name of Silver Griffin. It is headed by two women, both of whom are now elderly. The older woman, and the one who takes care of most of the affairs, is named Winter Esmera. She is a kind old lady, with a big heart and a rather mysterious past to the travelers who encounter her. She has white hair that is usually tied up in a messy bun, pale, wrinkled skin, a thin body that is constantly hunched over, and stunning blue-gray eyes that would remind someone of a snowstorm. To see her not smiling and joking would be unusual. She is usually dressed in a simple, light blue gown with a white shawl thrown over her shoulders. She leans on a dark wooden cane for support.

The second of the two women is Crystal Esmera, and she is five years younger than Winter. She stands tall, unlike her slouched sister, and her body hasn't deteriorated as much, though she is still wrinkly. Her hair is white and flows to the middle of her back, still retaining a silky texture. Her eyes are the same color as her sister's, though they are narrowed and cold, lacking any sign of friendliness. She dresses in a black gown that is embroidered with snowflakes around the cuffs of the long sleeves and the end of the dress, which falls to her feet. She still retains a bit of curvy figure, unlike her sister, but age has still taken a toll on her face and body. She is unkind and usually has nothing to do with the guild members and travelers that pass through, but she manages the guild's affairs, making sure to inform the client when their mission has been taken and informing the Council of new members, since Winter is "too irresponsible and childish" to do any of this. She's harsh on the guild members who try to interact with her, often snapping at them and using a spell to hurt them in some way, so most guild members learn quickly to not even bother with her.

The guild itself is located in a huge, Victorian styled house with pointed black roofs and a stone exterior. It is a three story building, though the top floor is the home of Winter and Crystal and guild members aren't allowed up there. The second floor is a sort of lounge for the guild members, with huge, overstuffed purple sofas and coffee tables. There is also a large area that is completely void of furniture and this is where guild members can practice their magic-if they can control it-or practice other, less dangerous talents. There is a small staircase that leads to the door to the third floor. A large, double staircase leads from the second floor to the first floor. This floor is set up like a pub; there are tables with stools, a bar with a two doors behind it, and the mission board, though S-class missions are on a smaller board behind the bar. One of the doors behind the bar leads to a small office where guild members aren't allowed unless permitted and the other leads to a large kitchen. The floors of all of the guild are hardwood and slick, with some dark purple rugs under the couches on the second floor. The walls are very dark purple as well. The building is lit by hanging chandeliers.

Behind the guild, there exists a four floor building that is run down for the most part. It is a set of dorms where the guild members can stay for a very small fee to the guild. While it was intended for female members to be on the lower floors and for males to be on the two upper floors, the only floor that is currently useable is the first floor, so all members that wish to stay in the dorms have to stay on the first floor. There are intentions to fix this one day, when more members are present in the guild.

Silver Griffin was founded about sixty years prior to the current state of the guild, and for about twenty years, they were fairly stable. After that, the activity of the guild died down, until eventually, it was only Winter and Crystal left in the guild. A few years after this, though, a few youngsters began showing up and now, Winter has hopes of reliving the days of old. She hopes that one day, the griffin will rise again through the youngsters that are starting to call the guild home.

Silver Griffin doesn't have many restrictions on its members, taking missions, or magic that is allowed. Winter has begun to consider the guild a home to any restless souls that feel that they don't have anywhere else to go, or that need help finding answers in their lives, but she doesn't care about their past and usually won't pry, though she is perceptive and can usually see the pain that some of the youngers harbor.

Will Winter's dream come true? Will she get to see the rise of her guild through the people that are joining?

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>__Phew. A small little introduction to get things going. I feel that this one is a little better than the last one. It's got a bit more detail. I thought about including a flashback of the guild being founded, but that would reveal too much, too early, but expect that sooner or later. Anyway, hope you enjoyed~ Feel free to review or whatever. Lots of love! Chapters gonna be a lot longer than this one, normally~  
><em>

**OC submissions are now closed! Thanks a ton for the OCs, and if you said you were gonna send an OC and need the form, PM me. If I haven't responded to your PM, then I'll probably get to it soon. If you decided you don't wanna send an OC and you've told me you will be, please tell me! D:**


	2. Chapter 2 xIntro

_**Author's Note: **Hi again, guys~ New chapter~ Yay! Anyway, I don't need more OCs. Thank you so much everyone. The OCs will be introduced over the next 4-10 chapters, depending on how carried away I get with introducing them. If I don't portray your OC right, tell me and I'll work out the kinks over time. If your OC seems to barely get introduced, don't worry! They'll get lots of screen time throughout the story and I'm working on it. If you see an OC that you would like your OC to be paired with, tell me and I'll tell you if I can make it happen. I have a few pairings in mind that I already have scenarios for, and I don't want to break them up, but lots of pairs can be changed if I see fit. :3_

_I don't own Fairy Tail._

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><p><strong>September 20<strong>**th****, X791**

"Oh, dear… Good morning… You sure are an early riser…" An elderly lady with kind eyes said as she hobbled down the stairs. Through the square, four-paned windows that were near the stairs, you could see the faint glow of sunlight that bathed the guild hall and a soothing light. This elderly woman was Winter, and she was dressed in her usual clothing, with white house-slippers on her feet.

Her smile was directed towards a petite young woman with a slightly curvy figure that was bending over the bar counter of the guild, wiping it down. The woman's peachy pink hair fell in a wavy mess around her shoulder, with two long locks framing her round face, and nearly brushing the counter as she bent over. Her skin was creamy and covered with a navy blue dress that fit comfortably and fell to mid-thigh and fit loosely around her shoulders, revealing a bit of cleavage and her pink guild mark that rested on her right collarbone. Her dress was lined with beige lace and her legs were covered in black leggings and black western styled boots. Most of her hair was held up away from her face by a braided black headband. Overall, she was a beautiful young woman, but what stood out the most about her were her eyes, which were mismatched, with the left one being scarred by streak that ran from her brow to her lashes. Her left eye was a bright blue, while her right eye was dark crimson in color. Her facial features all together were rounded, though it wouldn't be that noticeable to someone who was focusing on her eyes.

Upon hearing Winter's voice, the woman stood up straight, holding the washcloth in her hands against her lap. She smiled cheerfully, her rosy pink lips barely parting and let out a small giggle. "Good morning, Lady Winter," she said in a soft voice.

"Oh, dear… You don't have to speak to me so formally, Cecil… I wish you youngin's would learn that I'm not anything special," Winter said, waving her hand in dismissal. She continued her walk down the stairs, hobbling into a barstool, struggling and shaking a bit. While a hint of worry danced across Cecil's face, she didn't make a move. She had already learned that even though Winter appeared to need help in some things, she didn't like being offered help when it came to something so trivial.

Once Winter was seated, Cecil smiled again. "Would you like something to drink, L-uhm, Ms. Winter?" she asked. It was hard for her to drop that kind of politeness. It just seemed wrong to her not refer to the elderly woman who had been head of a mages' guild for long in a polite manner. She had been working for the guild for about a year now, and she still hadn't gotten over that.

"No thank you, dearest… I just drank coffee upstairs…" Winter said. She sighed once more and after crossing her legs and putting her hands in her lap, she cleared her throat. "Have you been practicing any new songs recently, my dear?" she asked.

"Oh… Yes ma'am… I usually try to practice every night," Cecil said, her eyes falling to the violin that was propped up under the bar counter. Since she wasn't capable of using magic, her passion was oriented towards music and performing arts, save acting.

"You should play more often here," Winter said. Her eyes then narrowed. "One of those hoodlum boys can play, but his music is too heavy. I'm just not into this 'hard rock' that you kids are into…"

As if referring to him was summoning him, a very tall man who was clad in a baggy hoodie-which was black with blue thunderbolts on each shoulder, an electric blue horizontal stripe on each shoulder, and a vertical electric blue stripe down the chest, starting at his left collarbone, baggy black and electric blue cargo pants, worn black and dingy white sneakers and a large electric blue backpack walked in, the music coming from the electric blue earbuds in his ears audible from across the guild hall. His platinum blond hair covered his eyes and the earbuds, and the two locks of electric blue hair framed his pale face. While normally, he walked with purpose and arrogance practically oozed into the air around him, at that moment, he was slouched and when he lifted his chin and flipped his hair out of his eyes, dark circles could be seen under his eyes, making their electric blue color stand out even more against pale skin and dark circles. His eyes were narrowed, but at that moment, it was hard to tell if it was because he was tired or just normally like that.

Once the doors shut behind him, Winter was up, across the room, and glaring at him. "Where is my granddaughter, you little hoodlum?"

"Eh…?" the man stared down at her for a moment, blinked, flipped his hair and then shrugged, his tired eyes drifting off to the side. He really wasn't sure what was going on at that moment. A sleepless night of scouting had taken its toll and he just wanted to report back and then sleep.

Winter's arm grabbed the wire that was running down his chest, yanking it to remove the earbuds. "I asked you where she was. And where are the rest of your friends? Why are you alone?" she flicked him in the forehead when she received a blank stare as a response.

"Mmmmrrrhhh…." He groaned… "It's like, too early to exist, old lady-GAH!" his speech was interrupted by Winter reaching up, grabbing his ear, which was pierced with one silver loop, and pulling him nearly a foot down to her height. "Okay! Okay! Sweet mother of…. They're in their dorms or home or whatever the hell… I don't fuckin' know. I can't even think right now! We completed the missions. Bandits gone. Dead. Poof. Mission complete. Lemme go!" When he pulled away from Winter, a small gray Exceed poked its head out of his hood. The Exceed had pointy ears, though the end of the left one was missing, white paws, a white belly, and three dark gray stripes on his head. His eyes were pale blue and droopy from lack of sleep. He had a cute pink nose.

"Fame… Wh-what's going on…?" he asked in a soft, shaky voice, rubbing his eyes.

Fame's eyes seemed to dilate and then revert when he heard the voice of his Exceed. "Don't worry, Nikko, I'm taking care of things, lil' buddy," he said in a soft voice. He then turned to Winter. "They went home. I'm here to like say, we did the mission. Took a while, lots of tracking them. Having to get intel out of people. All that mission jazz," he explained, finally seeming to be at least somewhat aware of his surroundings.

"I don't believe you… Why don't you go gather your team so you can report in together like a normal team?" Winter said, placing a hand on her hip and staring up at Fame.

He flipped his hair and dark lines appeared down his forehead… "You're not serious, right…?" he asked in a flat voice. While one of his teammates lived in the dorms that were directly behind Silver Griffin, the other two lived in their own homes, one of which was slightly far away. "Can I just go get Ves and call it a day?" he asked.

"Nope… I wanna make sure all of you are safe. I know all of you aren't S-class and I wanna make sure I didn't goof by letting you four take that S-class mission," Winter said. "And don't argue, because my word is final!" she added when Fame opened his mouth.

He let out a disgruntled sigh, dropped his backpack by the door, and took Nikko out of his hoodie. "Go be with the barmaid lady," he said, putting him on the ground, receiving a small nod. With that, he flipped his hair and he was gone in a small flash of blue lightning at his heels, techno music audible as he moved.

Winter hobbled back over to the bar and sat down, patting Nikko, who was now on top of the counter, on the head. "One day, that boy will get back in-line," she mumbled, running her hand through Nikko's fur.

"You're so cute, Nikko~" Cecil said, clapping her hands together and smiling brightly at the Exceed. She loved cute things and somehow, she had never really taken too much attention to the Exceed. Really, she wasn't sure why, as she had noticed Fame and his friends around a few times.

Nikko blushed brightly, his eyes widening. "Th-th-thank you, Miss," he stammered, rubbing his small paws together. He wasn't used to the attention, as he preferred to hide behind Fame and let Fame do all of the talking for them.

"Ms. Winter," Cecil started, looking up at Winter. "If you don't like Fame and his friends, why don't you kick them out?" she asked. She didn't know the group very well. They were pretty loud when they were all together, but they were generally quiet people otherwise; apart from Winter's granddaughter, who was fairly social. She had heard Fame play the guitar at least twice, and one of his friends read a lot, but she didn't see either of them do either of the hobbies extensively. Mostly, she knew about them and one other group within the guild through Winter's venting.

"They're all good boys. Would be handsome if they could hold themselves properly," Winter said. "They've got to have someone to pull their ears sometimes and boss them around, otherwise they'll be bad fathers," she explained. "And just a secret… I know everyone is okay. I just wanted to make sure that boy would do my bidding…." She said in a softer tone, her eyes on Nikko, who was now propped up against the wall and snoring softy, a small snot bubble in his nose inflating and deflating as he breathed.

Cecil's brows furrowed in sympathy for the team. Winter came off to her as a nice lady, but to some people, she was harsh. She was glad she wasn't on the wrong end of the stick with the elderly guild master. She also felt that Winter probably had some kind of interior motive for saying that they would grow up to be bad fathers and wondered if they reminded her of someone in the past.

"Good morning!" a small voice said, breaking the silence in the guild hall. Small feet could be heard coming down the stairs, and when Cecil looked, she saw a tiny girl with a pale blue pixie cut, sleepy bright green eyes, freckles, and peachy skin. Her face was round, making her look almost like a doll. She was dressed in a white sunflower-print t-shirt under a simple green dress and her feet were bare. She was rubbing her eyes, with a hand that had a dark blue guildmark on top of it, and smiling down at the bar counter, her small hand on the stair rail.

"Good morning, Cantrelle, my lovely~" Winter greeted her, her mood instantly lighting up. She twisted around in the bar stool and held her arms open for the little girl, who crawled into them and held her knees to her chest, yawning. "Did you find breakfast?" Winter asked, receiving a nod.

"Good morning, Cantrelle," Cecil said with a small giggle. She then turned around to the small station behind the bar that had many drinks, about half of which were alcohol based. She reached into the fridge and produced a bottle of orange juice, pouring it into a small glass and sitting it in front of Cantrelle. She had gotten to know the little girl over the time that she had worked for Silver Griffin and had come accustomed to giving her a glass of juice every morning. She also knew that the little girl loved to sing and enjoyed singing with her and keeping her company from time to time.

"Thank you, Ceci!" Cantrelle happily said, taking the juice and taking a small sip. Her eyes landed on Nikko and her head tilted to the side. She then decided not to question anything, figuring that the Exceed's owner would be around somewhere. Her eyes darted from the Exceed to the stairs when she saw Crystal coming down.

"No noise… Music to my ears…." Crystal said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"I find it boring," Winter said. "And good morning, Ms. Grump," she added, sticking her tongue out at her sister, making Cantrelle giggle.

"Oh, hush… I wouldn't have this problem if you didn't scrape whatever scum you could off the streets and call it a griffin," Crystal retorted.

"Hmph. These kids need places to call home so they don't choose the wrong path in life. You can just can it," Winter said, sticking her nose up like a pouting younger sister. If not for the bodily differences, it would be hard to tell that Winter was the younger of the two.

"You'll regret it when we get labeled as a dark guild, dense sister," Crystal retorted, walking down the stairs, behind Cecil, barely pushing her so that she could get to the office. She slammed the door as she entered and the sound of it locking could be heard.

Cecil stared at the door for a moment, but looked to Winter when the elder spoke. "Don't worry about her, dear. No one in this guild is scum… You're all very, very wonderful children and I love each and every one of you, you know…" she said in a soft voice, placing a hand on top of Cecil's hand, which was on the counter. Winter's other hand rested on top of Cantrelle's head, petting the child.

Cecil's eyes fell to the hand and she nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Winter," she said in an almost inaudible voice.

"Crystal has her bad days," Cantrelle said in a small voice, seeing the pain in Cecil's eyes. "She doesn't mean any of it, and you gotta believe that she only means the best."

"Yeah… I understand," Cecil said, nodding, more to reassure herself than Cantrelle. She was pretty sure she saw more bad days than good days, especially when she came to the guild early.

The doors opened and Cecil's eyes brightened a bit as she watched to see who it was, not wanting to bring concern to any of her other guild-mates. She saw Fame with three other people and an Exceed.

The first one to speak was a girl, and she was holding the Exceed. Her eyes were narrowed and like Fame and her other teammates, she had dark circles under her eyes. "We're back, Grandma," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. The female was tanned skin, with golden-brown eyes and dark bronze colored hair that was pulled up messily, with a few locks of it framing each side of her face. She had a slim, rounded face with high cheeks and a muscular, curvy figure with supple hips and an average bust. She was dressed in a midnight blue blouse that loosely fit her shoulder, with sleeves that came to her hands, forming a flat triangle on top of them, a fluffy, cream colored scarf that had stars on the ends, charcoal shorts, black tights, and flat, black boots that stopped at her ankles. Though she was only a bit shorter than average, she was nearly dwarfed by her three teammates. The Exceed in her arms was a pale golden color with thick fur and slightly pointed ears, as well as orange eyes and a pale blue dress. She was currently sleeping, though.

"What is it that Fame couldn't cover by himself, Ms. Winter?" one of the males asked. He was the second tallest of the group, only about two inches shorter than Fame but a good bit more muscular, he was also the most tan, with skin that was a couple of shades darker than the female, and he had brightly color fuchsia colored hair that fell to his hips, but was pulled into a low ponytail at the base of his neck. He had thick black-rimmed square glasses that hid narrowed lime-green eyes and he was dressed in a black leather jacket over a dark blue shirt, black pants with buckles running along the sides and black steel-toed boots. The golden pocket watch around his neck and the silver stud in his left ear caught the early morning light that was flooding into the windows. His voice didn't really have any emotion, as he was trying to be respectful, but didn't really have the energy left to sound polite.

The third male was the most muscular, but was the shortest of the men, standing at an even six feet tall with creamy colored skin and silver spiky hair that reflected light well. His deep red eyes were focused on the ground to avoid the sunlight, but the light pink skin of the three claw-mark scars of his eyes still reflected light. His thick arms were folded across his chest, covering his gray flak jacket and the skull print on his black hoodie. His feet were covered in black combat boots that had brown slacks tucked into them. His hands were covered in black fingerless gloves that had silver spikes on the knuckles and an ember colored chain hung from his neck. He didn't say anything, but he let out a cough of surprise when Winter flicked him on the forehead.

"Bad, all of you!" she said, making her rounds, pulling each of the boys down, and flicking them on the forehead. She stopped at her granddaughter. She acted as if she was going to pat her on the head, but at the last second, she flicked her on the head as well, making her jump in surprise. "Vesta, you know I want you to tell me when you get back! I worry about you bunch of rats!"

"Sorry, sorry, Grandma… I'm sleepy, though," Vesta, the female said as she rubbed her forehead, where a red mark was already appearing.

"Same," the long-haired male said, rubbing his forehead. He had thought he was polite enough not to get punished in anyway, but apparently Winter was relentless.

"Julius, it's totally best not to talk right now," Fame said, dipping his head to avoid eye contact with Winter.

"I know the perfect punishment for my dear little hoodlums!' Winter said, her voice pepping up. All shoulders in front of her tensed.

"Oh, god…." Fame mumbled under his breath, getting wacked in the shoulder with Winter's cane. "Owww…" he grumbled.

"You four can go and get some sleep, but I want you back by five o'clock. There will be a pile of lumber and bricks and such by the dorms and you four can rebuild them!" she said, clapping joyously.

All four faces paled and eyes widened. "We didn't do anything! We had a mislead on the mission, but we took care of it!" Vesta protested. The dorms were four stories. They were four mages. And it sounded tedious. And loud. Everything bad.

"Don't you think that's a bit…harsh, Ms. Winter?" Cecil asked, walking over to the group. They looked exhausted and annoyed. She stayed behind Winter because, while she normally wasn't intimidated by much, three men that were all about a foot or more taller than her that were all annoyed, powerful mages, didn't seem like something many people would mess with.

"Oh… I'm not really punishing them. Someone's gotta do it," Winter said, shrugging. "It'll be a labor of love, because they all love me so much, right, you four?"

"…..Yeah…. Sure…." Fame muttered, tucking his hands into his hoodie pockets and flipping his hair out of his eyes, though it didn't really work, as his head was still down.

"Can we go now, Grandma?" Vesta asked.

"Yes. Ryuuga, Fame, Julius and Vesta," she said, her eyes landing on each of the mages. "I expect to see all of you back by five!"

With that, Vesta, Ryuuga and Julius left sluggishly, while Fame gathered his backpack and then walked over to the bar.

"I could get you coffee if you'd like," Cecil offered in a small, kind voice. "It may make you feel-"

"Don't need it," Fame responded rudely, gathering up Nikko as gently as possible, cradling him like a baby in one arm.

"Respect, boy!" Winter snapped, whacking him on the head with her cane. "You have to respect your guild mates."

Fame winced and almost shot Winter a mean look, but stopped himself, forcing a toothy smirk and turning to Cecil, flipping his hair to reveal his eyes. "Thanks for lookin' after Nikko and offering me coffee, erm, Celeste… No Sally… Erm….?" He frowned, not remembering her name.

"Cecil," she said, laughing lightly. "And you are welcome, Fame," she responded, giving him a bright smile.

"Yeah, whatever, later," he said, waving with his one free hand and walking out. As he exited, another male passed him, apologizing as they bumped into each other.

This male was dressed rather dapperly, in a white, long sleeved dress shirt under a black vest, with black slacks and loafers. He was average height, standing at 5'7'' with some muscles and sun-kissed skin. His hair matched the black of his clothes, covered his ears, and was practically uncombed, with locks sticking up here and there. His face, which had a fairly boyish structure, with a slightly pointed chin and round nose. His right cheek had a small, but noticeable slash-mark type scar. His clam-shaped, deep brown eyes scanned the guild when he walked in, and his brows furrowed when he saw no one other than Winter, Cantrelle and Cecil. "Good morning, pretty ladies!" he spoke with a huge grin once he got over the initial confusion that the guild was empty.

Winter chuckled at that. She had taken her seat at the barstool again, though Cantrelle had moved to one of the tables, and was playing Solitude and humming to herself. "Good morning, Mr. Bandera!" the tiny girl responded cheerfully, not looking up from her game.

"Good morning, Bandera," Cecil said, waving with one small sweep of her palm in the air at him. "It's still early. I think you're here a bit early, actually."

As Bandera walked to the bar, Winter smiled at him, rustling his hair. "Such a fine young man," she commented. She loved the way he dressed up for work every morning. He was just a waiter and cook trying to learn magic, but he seemed to try to hold more passion for his job and being an "unofficial" guild member than a lot of the members around.

"Thank you, Ms. Winter," he said, grinning. He stepped behind the bar and attempted to flash a charming smile at Cecil. "Would you like to go somewhere together after work?"

Cecil's brows furrowed in sympathy at the boy and she waved her hand in dismissal. "No thank you… It's a kind offer, though."

Bandera frowned for a moment, wondering where he went wrong with the attempt at flirting. Then again, she did turn him down nicely and wasn't creeped out, so that could be a plus. Then again, Cecil was always polite. He would have to try it on the next girl that walked in. Yes! If the next girl that walked in turned him down lightly, then he was making progress within the guild. Or maybe… Just maybe… They would accept his offer! His eyes began to sparkle at the thought. A real girlfriend!

Cecil watched as Bandera seemed to be fantasizing something, a sweat drop forming on the back of her head. She wasn't sure that he would classify as a "fine young man" any more than the other men that had been in the guild today at this point. Then again, she was used to it. Bandera liked to flirt, and think about women. It was just who he was.

"What is wrong with you, Bandera?" a small, snooty voice said from beside Bandera. The boy looked down to see what looked like a porcelain doll that was the height of the average ten-year old girl, with a black Lolita dress, creamy blond ringlets that fell to her shoulders, emerald colored eyes and translucently pale skin. "You know, no woman in this guild will ever find someone as pathetic as you to be a suitable lover!"

"Hm?" Bandera snapped out of his fantasies. "You're wrong! One day I will be the Hero of Justice and all of the ladies will swoon over me, Lucie!" he snapped.

"Uhm…. Excuse me?" Cecil said, stepping away from him. She had no idea what he was talking about, but he had suddenly stopped fantasizing and randomly snapped. She looked to Winter and Cantrelle, who were both staring at Bandera, Cantrelle with confusion and a small glimmer of fear and Winter with the utmost concern.

Bandera's eyes widened and his face paled when he realized he spoken a little too loud. He hadn't really told anyone about Lucie, for fear that no one would believe him, just like before, but occasionally, she would annoy him to the point of saying something too loudly. At least there were very few people in the guild right now. "Hehe…. Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head and smiling nervously, showing his teeth and gums.

"Who's Lucie? Like the Fairy Tail mage?" Cantrelle asked, tilting her head a bit as she spoke.

"Uh, not exactly," Bandera responded. "It-it's nothing, really," he said in a tiny voice, hoping more than anything that someone would walk in to break the awkwardness. He had no doubt that Winter would try to talk to him later, but he just didn't want to think about it.

Luckily, his prayers were answered, and as soon as he saw the door open and a woman walk in, he instantly rambled out, "Would you like to do something with me this afternoon, dearest beauty?" though it seemed to come out in one desperate sentence.

Dark brows twitched, and round, shockingly blue eyes twitched at the question. "No, you idiot," the woman said, pulling her black cloak closer to her body to ensure that no ogling of her chest would occur. Though she kept her head down so it was hard to tell, she was blushing, with her lips together in a squiggle. She didn't have interest in a player. As her white tank-top was covered by her cloak, this woman seemed to be dressed in all black, with black skinny jeans and thick black platform boots. She pulled the hood from her head, revealing jet black, side-swept bangs that covered most of her left eye and long hair that was partially hidden by the cloak.

"Flat out rejected," Lucie pointed out, sticking her nose up in an "I-told-you-so" fashion and letting out a triumphant "humph!"

"Uhm, okay," Bandera said, a sweat drop forming on his forehead as he rubbed the back of his head. Of course it would also be his luck that the woman that walked in would be one of the more bi-polar females in the guild. It couldn't be someone kind.

"Good morning, Sayomi~" Cecil greeted her with a smile. While Sayomi could be moody at times, Cecil seemed to have the remote understanding that she was just shy, so she tried to return that shyness with kindness so that Sayomi would have friends.

"G'morning," Sayomi said, returning Cecil's greeting with a small parting of one corner of her lips. She took a seat at the table with Cantrelle, the cards catching her attention, as it was something to do.

"Wanna play 'Go Fish'?" Cantrelle asked. When Sayomi responded positively, Cantrelle gathered up the cards, shuffled them, and then began to replicate the set-up for Go Fish.

When she received her hand, she looked at it and then asked, "Do you have fours?"

"Nu-uhn, go fish," Cantrelle responded in between humming.

* * *

><p>The day passed by normally, and at midday, Henri entered the guild hall, carrying a few thick books under his arms. Henri was an average height, borderline unhealthily thin man with skin that was almost lifelessly pale, and lifeless, navy, mid-parted hair that matched. His skin was marred with claw-like scar, with one noticeable, single-line scar that ran from his right brow to the middle of his right cheek, and his eyes-which were sharp and narrowed- were marked with dark bags and stress-lines. His clothing matched his overcast appearance, as he wore a black trench-coat over a dark blue shirt that had runic symbols lining the bottom portion of it, black pants and brown boots. The only things that seemed to brighten up his appearance was the silver locket that hung from his neck and the way his blue eyes seemed to glow unnaturally.<p>

"Good afternoon!" Cecil and Bandera greeted cheerfully as he walked in, their greeting being returned with a subtle crack of the lips and tensing of the shoulders.

Cantrelle and Sayomi were still playing card games, though now they seemed a bit more focused and quiet. Neither of them greeted Henri when he walked in.

Henri took a seat at the table that was in between the bar and Sayomi and Cantrelle's table, so that he could be close to people, without getting in the way of anything. He looked at the three books that he had placed on the table and picked one up. He seemed to turn it over in his hands before turning to Bandera, who was wiping down the counter. "Uhm… Have you read this?" he asked, holding up the book.

Bandera looked up, and upon seeing the gruesome image of some distorted figure with long claws maiming a poor young boy, his eye twitched and his face paled. He wasn't sure how to answer, but he didn't even realize he had stopped cleaning.

"What are you waiting for, you doof? Tell him you're appalled! He's such a weird-"

"Shhh!" Bandera tried to hush the little girl that was clinging to him as quietly as possible, but apparently Henri had heard him, as he was now in the corner of the guild hall furthest from the bar with his knees against his chest, gloom emitting from him.

"Oh, man..." Bandera sighed pitifully. He was really having a bad day with people today. Really, really having a bad day.

"It's okay… He's a little sensitive," Cecil whispered, attempting to comfort her coworker, patting him on the back.

Instantly, Bandara straightened up, beaming with happiness. She had touched him! Even if it was just a pat on the back. Maybe it would be the story of young love, who spent every day slaving for the guild they loved, until they both awakened their maximum potential and-

"Annnnnnnd she's gone," Lucie pointed out, as Cecil had vanished into the kitchen, probably to get away from him.

* * *

><p>When five o'clock rolled around, all of the guild members that had been to the guild that day apart from Cantrelle-who was napping, Henri-who was still sulking, Sayomi-who had returned home around four, and Crystal-who was also still sulking, found themselves behind the guild, where dark red stone bricks, sheets and planks of wood, buckets of many darker colors of paint, and other assorted construction materials were.<p>

"Are people gonna help us?" Vesta asked, clapping her hands under her chin and grinning, hoping to look innocent enough that if people needed persuasion, she would persuade them to help.

"They don't have to help. However, they can if they want to," Winter said. She was sitting on a small bench that she had had Ryuuga and Julius move so that she could sit down and watch.

"I… Don't really have anything better to do," Cecil said cheerfully. She really didn't, and she liked helping people. She also lived in the dorms, so she figured she would take this opportunity.

"If you go on a-" Bandera started, but Lucie stopped him.

"Should you really be trying your luck anymore today, moron?" she asked. "Besides, we live here. You're going to help fix it up!"

"Let's get this shit over with," Julius said, pushing his glasses back on his nose. Everyone agreed and the griffins got to work… Well, sort of. No one on the sight really knew much of what to do. Fame and Ryuuga had walked over to lumber, but were just staring at it, Cecil and Vesta both had paintbrushes, but they were looking at where to start, and Julius and Bandera were staring down at the bricks, Bandera with a trowel in his hand, Lucie at his hip.

"What's going on back here, Ms. Winter?" a female voice came from the gates to the back entrance of the guild. A slightly taller woman with a slim body that had adequate amount of curvature in the right places was standing at the gate with her hands on her hips. She was dressed in a simple dark blue bikini top that had a contrastingly bright blue X on each breast, under a mid-drift, short sleeved black jacket with a high collar that was left open, along with black skinny jeans that were tucked into black ankle boots with three silver-studded buckles on them. She had a silver belt around her waist and a keyring with seven keys hung from it. A silver anchor charm hung from a necklace around her neck. Her cerulean blue eyes were shaded by messily layered brown bangs, and the rest of her hair fell to her waist and was straight.

"Oh, Shiloh dear… Could you help these poor souls?" Winter asked, looking up at the woman with pleading eyes. No progress was being made at that moment.

"Hm?" the woman looked at her guild mates and arched a brow. "Fixing up the dorms?" she asked. She then watched them as they proceeded to do, much of nothing. Her eyes twitched and she cleared her throat. "Okay, guys! Don't just stand around! Nothing's going to get done!" she barked.

"Oh, god… A wild bitch appeared," Fame grumbled under his breath, glaring back at Shiloh.

"Hm…? But Loh is really nice and not really wild at all… I don't think…" Nikko said, frowning up at Fame. "Didn't you two use to play tog-"

"Nope. Never. Never heard of it," Fame interrupted his Exceed. However, he had started to move, picking up lumber and moving it to the cutting board.

"Jace-"

"Don't call me that! Not my name!" Fame barked back before Shiloh could finish her sentence.

Shiloh let out a sigh. "Okay. You need to take measurements of the areas that need to be repaired before you randomly cut the wood. You'll also need to tell Ves or Cecil where you plan on putting it so that they can paint it if needed. Ryuuga, if you're gonna help, you should do the same thing. Fame should probably take the top floor and you can take the second or third."

"Right…" Ryuuga said, entering the dorms with Fame behind him.

"Okay… Julius and Bandera, you two should just find holes in the building and patch them up. Then tell Ves and Cecil so they can paint it. We'll worry about the roof last, when the rest of the structure is stable again," Shiloh said.

"Yes ma'am!" Bandera said, grinning broadly and moving to action, ignoring Lucie as she mumbled something about Shiloh being a thousand times out of Bandera's lead so he shouldn't even try. Julius followed suit, grumbling about being bossed around by someone who had been in the guild for fewer years than him.

Shiloh was about to look for something for her to do, when she noticed that neither of the people on lumber had taken the measuring tape. She sighed and was about to walk over and take it to them, when Henri appeared beside her.

"I… I c-can take it to them if you want… I'd like to help…" he said in a soft voice, avoiding eye contact, afraid of angering people again.

"Okay. Thank you," Shiloh said, her lips parting into a small smile.

Henri seemed to light up with an accidentally creepy smile at the sign of appreciation and moreover, seemed even happier when Shiloh didn't flinch upon seeing it. He grabbed two measuring tapes and headed into the dorms.

"Thank you, dearest…" Winter said, watching as progress was made.

"Not a problem, Ms. Winter," she said. "I'm going to help, too, though," she said, walking over to the lumber and beginning to sand it down before Ryuuga and Fame returned.

* * *

><p>The griffins worked into the night, using the lights in the dorm to help them, with Cecil and Bandera making stops to bring drinks or food out. Cantrelle came out and sat with Winter after she disappeared inside and came back out with large aprons that would cover the fronts of the griffins' clothing as they worked, and Crystal peeped out at them a few times, but never said anything. The work was quiet, apart from a few jokes cracked by Bandera, or someone asking Shiloh the best approach to doing something. It didn't take long, but even though they didn't speak that much, the griffins were in sync. The building was slowly repaired and when patches were made, Vesta or Cecil would run to paint over it.<p>

At ten o'clock, Winter stood. "It's late, dearies. You may all go home. I'm sure we can finish it tomorrow. Feel free to come in for free late dinner. Anyone can help me cook."

"Thank god…." Both Julius and Fame said, Julius stretching his back while Fame combed at his hair.

"That was fun," Cecil said, happy to get to spend time with a few of her guildmates.

"Sure…" Julius huffed, sarcastically.

"I agree with Cecil," Henri said in a soft voice. He had enjoyed spending time with guild-mates who were distracted from his depressing and creepy aura. He had even got mumbled thanks from most of the other guys, and an apology from Bandera. It had been a good evening.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I got carried away. Really long chapter, I think. O.O However, I really love the characters I'm working with, so I couldn't help it. I know Sayomi's intro was brief. I plan to give her a more detailed intro later. Sorry, sorry. Hope everyone enjoyed my portrayals of peoples. Remember to drop me a line if I messed something up, or if you have a question or something, yo. If people read the old fic, I made a big deal-sorta-about Fame's real name. I trashed that 'cuz I don't like it._

_I… Haven't made a birthday list, so if an OCs b'day happened without mention, sorry. X_X_

_I'll start review responses next chapter. OwO;_

_**Le Credits (Sorry if I misspell your pen name) :**_

_Jace "Fame" Ivory – Me_

_Esmera sisters – Me_

_Shiloh "Loh" Black – MyDearWatson_

_Henri Augar – Reitzel-chan_

_Bandera – Naofumi_

_Ryuuga Altross – Death Obelisk_

_Julius Cromwell – LightAndDarkHeart_

_Vesta "Ves" Estelle – Nicky Azure_

_Sayomi Sazama – FanO'theNinja121_

_Cantrelle Song – Pudding21_

_Cecil Aquamarine – Hayley Le_

_**I'll only mention the credits for each character once. I don't claim to own characters that aren't mine or Fairy Tail in general. Please don't use the OCs of others without their permission! D:**_

_**_Please don't ask me when your OC will appear! I do things as I see fit and as ideas come to me! They will appear and they will be part of the story if I accepted them! :D_ **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note:**__ Hi again, guys~ This chapter would have been up yesterday, but I got Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire, so I've been playing that a lot. ^^; Also, I know updates are coming out really fast right now, but don't expect that to be the case most of the time. I'll probably get one more chapter out this week sometimes, and then there are finals to prepare for, so I'll be really inactive for a little over a week, and then I'll get a few chapters out in December. After that, I will probably only be doing one or two chapters a month, so that's what should be expected on a regular schedule~ In regards to characters, I mostly got good feedback on it, but if I mess up, please note that it will take me some time to get completely used to writing these characters. _

_A note on my characters: I know my introductions are kinda just thrown out, but after this chapter or next, I think I'm gonna start focusing on leaving the guild hall and such. I want to get the characters introduced within the first five chapters, but I also want to start working on writing missions and such because while it is fun to make the characters interact, I feel as though it would be more interesting to focus on some other things. Anyway, review responses and credits are at the end. Enjoy~_

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><p><strong>September 24<strong>**th****, X791, around 10 am.**

"Good morning, Silver Griffin!" An average sized female with chestnut colored hair that fell almost to her shoulders and curled around her cheeks spoke as she opened the massive wooden doors to the guild hall and walked in, a teammate on either side of her. The girl was dressed in a simple white blouse that was covered in ruffles and worn under red suspenders, a darker red skirt, white leggings and matching red flats. Her skin was dark and her hazel eyes were shining as she looked around the guild hall, which was relatively empty, save for Cecil and Bandera behind the bar and Henri at one of the tables reading.

"Oh… Look at the crowd… Perfectly charming, dazzling perhaps," the male that was standing to the right of the female said. This male was small, standing at a petite 5'2'' and could probably be mistaken for a female, based on his looks and clothing. His short hair was curly and black, though when the light of the chandeliers hit, some silvery spots showed up. His eyes were silver with dark lashes, matching the flecks in his hair and contrasting a bit against his brown skin. He was dressed in a baby blue cardigan over a white shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and light brown, cloth knee-high boots. He had his arms folded across his chest, and the way his dark brows drooped over his eyes, it was easy to tell that he was not really amused. "Don't you two just love the noise of guild mates and clients as missions just pour in and out of the best guild Fiore?"

"It's totes perfect, right?" the third person said, placing a hand on her hip. She was a giant compared to almost everyone that was currently in the guild, standing at 6'3'', with a slim build, though this gave no implication to underestimate her. Her raven hair fell down her back, stopping at her hips. When the light reflected from it, cobalt streaks could be seen. The same could be said for her eyes, which appeared dark, though they had some blue-gray color to them. Her skin was the lightest of her team, but she was still tanned. She was dressed in a black leather jacket over a worn bluish-gray tea, black gloves, ripped up worn jeans that may have been black in the past, but were now gray, and black combat boots, giving her the overall appearance of a gang member or a biker. She really stood out in both height and appearance against her teammates.

"Ephraim, Viera…" the other girl said, her eyes darting from the male to the taller woman. "Hush, hush… You know that's not very nice to say… It's definitely growing!"

"Leave it to our dearest Fawn to find the best of our situation," Ephraim said, letting out a small sigh. "The fact that you cannot see the detrimental social status of this fine palace that we call our base of operations means that you must have… The most excellent of eyesight."

"Yeah, whatevs," Viera said, shrugging. One could consider it amazing that she had been quiet during Ephraim's little monologue. "Let's go report to grams and, like, go get 'nother mission or somethin'." With that, the girl walked forward, waving lightly to both of the barmaids who greeted her.

"We just came back from a mission…" Fawn mumbled, her eyes dropping to the ground. For a moment, she seemed to think, and then her eyes narrowed and she stepped forward.

"Lookin' good as ever, you two," Viera said, her eyes seeming to take in the appearances of Cecil and Bandera, both of who laughed lightly. "Where's the head at? We need missions." She was surveying the guild as she spoke, a smirk spreading across her face when she didn't see any sign of "authority" around.

"Actually-" Cecil was about to explain where the guild master sisters were, but Fawn grabbed Viera's arm, looking up at her.

"We just came back from a mission… I don't think we should take another one," she explained in a firm voice. When Viera's eyes landed on her, she looked down. She didn't want to lose her stand, but she knew that Viera could easily change her mind.

Ephraim took a seat at the bar, but stayed out of his teammates' conflict. He could care less. "Cecil, may I have a drink?" he asked the barmaid that was closer to her.

"Oh, yes, of course~" Cecil responded cheerfully, her eyes darting from Fawn and Viera and then to Ephraim. "What would you like?"

"Oh, the question of the decade. Just give me some orange soda," he responded.

"Okay~" she said. "How has your day been, Ephraim?" she asked as she fixed his drink.

"Rainbows and puppy dogs, rainbow and puppy dogs," he responded, taking his drink and turning his attention back to Fawn and Viera.

"So…. Bandera…" Viera leaned over the counter and traced circles over Bandera's chest, making him blush. "You totes have access to S-class missions, right? Don't the S-classes, like, get them from you?"

"Um, yeah," Bandera responded, rubbing the back of his head. While he loved the attention, Viera scared him. She was tall, and he had seen her get into guild fights a couple of times, and it usually wasn't pretty. "But…" He also knew that the barmaids were responsible for keeping the S-class missions to give to the S-class mages of the guild. They knew who they were and were informed if someone else became an S-class mage. And he knew that none of Viera's group were S-class.

"What are you doing, you dolt?" Lucie snapped at him, grabbing the end of his shirt. "Tell them no! Winter will fire you if you give out a mission to these losers!"

"Then… I'm assuming you would love to do a favor for a bunch of awesome girls like us," Viera continued, ignoring the glare from Ephraim.

"No, Viera," Fawn said in firm voice. "Don't listen to her, Bandera," she said, turning around to face him.

"Fiiiiiiinnnnnnneeeeee…." Viera huffed, rolling her eyes and standing up, straight and placing her hands on her hips. "So… What now?" she asked.

"Fawn," Cecil turned to Fawn with a bright smile, clapping her hands together. She didn't really seem to catch that the team had been arguing. Or maybe she was trying to lighten the situation. "Kimi's going to be here today, so we should bake!"

"Ohhh, sounds like fun!" Fawn said, instantly lightening up. "I hope a bunch of people come to the guild today!"

"Murder. She has intent to kill," Ephraim stated in a solemn tone. He knew how sugary her sweets were, and Fawn with two more girls who may have intentions of giving the guild diabetes… It sounded like nothing short of untimely death.

"Don't worry. We'll come up with some treats that aren't as sweet, too," Fawn reassured him. With that, she took her seat at the bar and waited.

Viera scanned the guild again, noticing that there were all of two missions posted on the mission board, and then sighed. There were around twenty members in the guild at the time, but it really hadn't picked up very much. She wanted more missions. That obviously wasn't happening at that moment, so she just sat down at the bar with the others.

Not long after that, a decently tall-standing at 5'11'' with her shoes-, pink mage skipped into the guild hall. Everything about this mage was over-done. She was dressed in a hot pink tail-coat that fell to the back of her knees. This tail-coat was buttoned once over her flat bosom, had a huge wide collar with a lot of white lace, long sleeves with huge cuffs that were white and lacy and black vertical pinstripes going down it. Under this coat was a white tube-top that had a pastel pink cupcake print over the right ribcage and hot pink lace on both ends of the top, along with a very frilly and poofy hot pink and white skirt that fell just above her knees, opaque white stockings with little cupcakes printed on them, knee high, hot pink platform boots with black stars going up the outside of them and white shoelaces up the front and black soles, white lacy formal gloves and a white and hot pink lacy choker necklace. Her pale rose hair fell almost to her waist and was tied into loose drill tails on each side of her head. A white top-hat sat atop her head, though it had black lace that covered the top of her head and a huge hot pink ribbon around it. Her bangs were clipped to the side, but covered her forehead. She was a pale girl, with a slim body lacking most curves, and the only noticeable mark on her body was the small beauty mark to the left of her chin. Her amber eyes scanned the guild hall and after a moment, she made her way to the bar.

As she passed Henri, she stopped, bending over and looking at his book. "Whatcha reading, Henchi?" she asked. Her nickname came from the fact that she originally started to shorten his name to "Hen" which made her think of chickens, so Henchi.

Henri looked up and shifted uncomfortably. While there weren't many people who socialized with him, Kimi was one of the few who seemed to do so on a completely normal basis. However, he never really knew how to deal with her. "Um, it's actually a collection of gothic poetry," he responded.

"Oh….." Kimi said, pursing her lips. "I've never really been able to understand poetry. You must be smart, Henchi~" With that, she patted his head and then walked over to the bar, while Henri continued to read, though he was smiling to himself. "Good morning, everyone~" she said, her eyes darting from everyone that was around the bar.

"Ugh…. Could one ask for more pink?" Ephraim asked. Whilst it wasn't that early, it was too early for the girl who could pretty much make you fat just by looking at her.

"Good morning, Kimi," Fawn and Cecil greeted. With that, Kimi and Fawn stepped behind the bar.

"This is my chance. She's super-nice, Lucie! She'll accept!" Bandera whispered in a low voice. He then turned to Kimi, who was coming behind the bar. "Kimi, you look so beautiful today. Would you like to go somewhere later? Like a date?"

Kimi stopped and blinked, as if considering his offer.

"She's going to reject you in about five seconds," Lucie pointed out.

"A date?" Kimi asked. "Like a couple's date?"

Bandera nodded, his eyes beginning to sparkle. She was going to say yes, he could feel it.

"I'm sorry, Bandie! You're not my type," she responded, laughing lightly and patting him on the head. "I really like you as a friend, though. You're so nice and funny!"

"I told you! You need to stop trying! You seem desperate and it makes women appalled!" Lucie said, slapping him on the hand, since she couldn't reach his head.

"Shot down…." Viera pointed out, snorting. She was now propped up on the counter, watching the scene.

"Smooth, so smooth," Ephraim pointed out. "You'd think that someone who yearns with all of his mind to have a date with someone would at least know that asking every woman who dares step a foot past the threshold of the guild on a date will never get you anywhere."

"See you guys in a bit!" Fawn said, and with that, the headed into the kitchen.

Once they were in the kitchen, Cecil turned to Kimi. "So, if Bandera's not your type, who is, Kimi?"

Kimi walked over to the far side of the kitchen and began gathering kitchen utensils, moving in a sort of dancing fashion as she gathered many different pans and mixing bowls. "Mmmm… I like quiet men, I think…" she said, shrugging. "I don't really have much of a preference other than that. What about you two?"

"I-I don't know," Fawn responded a bit too quickly, her voice becoming shaky. She quickly began to gather ingredients from the fridge so that her face would be hidden, as it was quite flustered.

Cecil began to gather ingredients from the pantry, humming to herself from the moment. "I think someone who is really caring and respectful to those around him… I don't really know much more than that," she responded.

"I'm sure we have plenty of guys like that in the guild, Cellie!" Kimi said. She then began to think for a moment and a sweat-drop appeared on her forehead. "At least, I think we do," she said, with a small laugh.

In the main hall, Winter was just walking in, a bright smile on her face. She had a stack of papers under one arm, and beside her was a girl with straight, black hair that framed her face and left her neck uncovered, with a few locks on her forehead, dark pink eyes, extremely pale skin and a black and red Lolita styled dress with black platform boots that stopped mid-calve. She had an average female body, with some curves where needed and an average height. While her overall appearance was something similar to that of a creepy-cute doll, she looked happy as she scanned the guild.

"I have found a new guild member!" Winter announced to the three males that were still in the guild hall. "Meet Mercy, everyone!"

"Hi! I'm Bandera!" Bandera introduced himself kindly. "We could always go out or something, you know!"

"Idiot," Lucie huffed.

"I'm Ephraim, and you seem like a ray of sunshine upon our lovely guild," Ephraim said with a single-motion wave of his hand.

"I'm Henri. Ni -" Before Henri could finish his sentence, he found himself being tackled out of his chair and onto the floor. He let out a grunt as the wind was knocked from his lungs.

"You're absolutely, positively adorable!" Mercy exclaimed, her arms wrapped around Henri's neck, her body sprawled over his, her cheek pressed to his. His book was now on her head, though it soon fell.

"And… She's… Not normal, what a surprise," Ephraim mumbled. He was now moved on the other side of the bar, having dodged Henri and Mercy as they fell to the ground and was now sitting away from them.

Bandera laughed lightly to that. "That doesn't surprise me," he mumbled under his breath. "But, maybe they'll get along. It would be nice for Henri."

"Adorable…?" Henri wheezed as he got some of his air back. He had never been called that. He was positive of this. He really didn't feel that he gave off the adorable aura, either. He wasn't sure what to do, but moving wasn't an option. He felt incredibly awkward.

"Yep! It's so great to meet you, Henri!" she responded, setting up on him, her knees at either side of his ribs. She made a little "hm?" as she saw his book and picked it. "Is this the fifth volume of _Midnight Petals_?" she asked, turning it over. "You read this series?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

"A-air…." Was all Henri could say in response. Mercy's new sitting position had pushed the air from his lungs and while one would have thought it impossible, his pasty skin was now even lighter, though it was starting to become colored from lack of oxygen.

"Air?" Mercy asked. "There's air everywhere," she responded. She then lowered the book for a moment and noticed the color of his face. "You don't look so good…"

"You should probably move," Bandera suggested, his eyes widening. "I don't think he can breathe."

"How can someone be so airheaded?" Lucie snarled. "We don't need more buffoons like you, Bandera."

"She may take the term suffocating lover to a literal level," Ephraim stated, blinking.

"Oh, my, I'm sorry!" she said, hopping off of him and sitting on the floor beside him instead.

After a small coughing fit, Henri sat up. "I think it's okay," he said in small voice. "I've read all of the volumes of that series, by the way…" he added.

"Really? Me, too!" Mercy responded, her eyes lighting up again. Her hands were on the floor as she leaned close to Henri. "People always call me strange for the stuff I read! Among other things, I think, but you read the same things, I bet!"

"Maybe…" he responded, avoiding eye contact. While he always felt lonely, he wasn't sure what to do now that he had found someone that was possibly on the same grounds as him. She definitely had a creepy aura like him, but her personality seemed to dismantle said aura.

With that, Mercy began to name off a bunch of books, to which Henri mostly responded that he had read them. She seemed to lean closer and closer to him with each positive answer that she received. When she was done, she threw her arms around his neck again, humming happily. She then turned to Winter, who had walked over to the bar. "Thank you so much for bringing me here, Ms. Winter," she said, grinning happily.

"You're welcome, dear," Winter responded. "I knew you would like it here. Silver Griffin is always a place for those who seem alone," she said, smiling happily.

* * *

><p>Soon after Winter's return, the entire guild hall began to smell like a bakery, and the noise of at least two females humming could be heard from in the kitchen. More missions had been posted on the board as well, making it appear to be a little populated, at least.<p>

Mostly the same people were still in the guild hall, apart from Sayomi, Shiloh, and Cantrelle now sitting at one of the tables, and Henri and Mercy now sitting at a table together, talking about different books and artists, though it could be said with certainty that most of the talking was being done by Mercy, with Henri giving small, blunt responses that usually consisted of no more than three words. Not that Mercy really seemed to mind. Or maybe she just didn't notice.

One more mage had entered, though, and she now stood at the mission board with one hand on a perfectly curved hip. Her deep green eyes, which were framed by long lashes, scanned the board. She had long, pale blond hair that cascaded down most of her back with a front that framed her heart-shaped face and covered her forehead. She had a pale, but still healthy complexion, with a dark beauty mark in the corner of her left eye. She was dressed in a simple halter-top dress that fell to the middle of her thigh and adorned with shiny black lace, along with white knee-high stockings and brown heeled boots that covered her ankles. A shiny locket hung from her neck, stopping right above the bit of cleavage that was exposed.

While the woman was quiet, and almost stoic in her stature, she could feel Bandera's eyes practically burning holes into her skin, and when she heard him inhale as if he was about to talk, a vein on her forehead swelled and she let out a small sigh. "The answer is no," she said as soon as she heard his voice, before he could even get the full sentence out.

"Don't say it," Bandera hissed, a disappointed look in his eyes as he glared down at Lucie, who had undoubtedly opened her mouth to criticize him. He then decided to occupy his mind by starting to clean. He was pretty sure she had asked Marionette out a few more times than the other women, but it was because the air of unapproachable that she seemed to put off pulled him to her.

Marionette had long since lost patience for Bandera. She heard the same question week after week, even though her answer never changed from something simple and negative. She didn't have time for him, and right now, she was just happy to see that there were quite a few missions to choose from. Once she saw a mission that caught her interest the most, she reached up to grab it, only sparing the doors of the guild hall a small glance when they opened. Once her hand landed on the piece of paper, a voice in ear caused her to cringe and drop her hand.

"Heya, Mari. Getting a mission that we can take together?" a male's voice asked, the smirk that was on his face practically audible in his playful tone. This male stood about a few inches above the female, and was dressed in a skin-tight black shirt that showed off his muscles and camouflage cargo pants that were tucked into large black boots. His hair was black and was styled into a small fauxhawk. His forest eyes had light dancing in them. The most notable characteristic of his appearance was the giant broadsword on his back.

"One. Do not call me 'Mari'," she started, stepping away just a bit as the males' face was only a few inches away from hers. "Two. I find that it would be insufferable to go on a mission with you, Kai."

"Aw…. Really?" he fake pouted, though laughed when Marionette shot him a glare that told him she didn't feel like dealing with him. "C'mon, babe. Lighten up."

Marionette rolled her eyes and claimed the mission, turning around to look for Winter, who, as usual, was nowhere to be found. She found it quite tedious that while Winter liked to know when they were leaving out on missions, it was rare that Winter was just around the guild hall after bringing in new missions.

"No points for the pun?" Kai asked, frowning. "You gotta admit that was good for a pun," he pointed out. "And Winter's outside in the backyard," he added. "She's talking to Rylen about our mission." He then paused. "You should join us on our mission when we get more leads. We could totally work together on it! You're, like, super perceptive and stuff, right?"

Marionette stopped and turned to him. "Thank you, though I'm certain my perceptiveness is something that you've not seen," she said, a triumphant expression on her face.

Kai grinned, realizing that he gotten some sort of foothold on her. "Yep. You'd be perfect for the mission, babe-" he stopped when she reminded him that she disliked being given "pet names" and then continued. "You can help a lot!"

Marionette placed the mission that she had originally picked back on the board and then began to walk with Kai, having interest in a mission that he thought her to suit so well. "Why are you two back, if your missions isn't finished?" she asked, arching a brow.

"We… Need help…" Kai admitted. "It's an S-class mission that Winter trusted Rylen with, but it seems… There may be some issues…"

"S-class?" Marionette stopped. "You're not S-class though," she pointed out. "I'm not either," she added, making a small "humph" as she did.

"Yeah, but Rylen says he's cool with and wanted me to find someone to go with us." Kai was now talking a bit lower as he was pretty sure most of the guild knowing about lower leveled mages taking on S-class missions wasn't exactly good.

"Hmmmm…." Marionette seemed to consider this. "You know, I've never worked with you, and just because the nature of our magic is the same does not mean that I will work well with someone who I may not be able to suffer being around," she added. He had used flattery and her own pride to rope her in. But still, if she succeeded in an S-class mission, it would possibly bring some attention to her, which could give her access to more missions. So, it could advantageous.

"I have confidence that we will work fine together," Kai said, winking at her with his lopsided grin returning to his face. He had asked Marionette to train with him and do missions with him before, but he usually got turned down. He was surprised that it was not the case this time around.

"Oi," another male approached them. "She in on it?" he asked, his eye falling to Marionette. This male was a couple of inches taller than the other male, but he wasn't quite as muscular. His one visible eye was a bright, almost unnatural jade color with light lashes and the other was covered by his bright, cyan colored hair, which covered the entire right side of his face and his neck, brushing his shoulder, even though it was partially tied up by a headband that was about three inches thick, dark blue with golden lining. His skin was a fair apricot color and there was a long, jagged scar on his left cheek. He was dressed in a simple, tight fitting, dark red turtleneck sweater, along with charcoal pants that fit normally around the waist, but poofed out around the rest of his legs, though they still fit tightly around his calves and were tucked into open-toed tabi that were black with cyan soles. He had simple black gloves over his hands. His muscles could be seen through his shirt, though only by a bit.

"Yep," Kai responded, beaming at the other male.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled. He then looked around the guild and his eyes landed on Shiloh, who was watching Cantrelle and Sayomi play cards. "I think she'll do for our fourth person," he said. He then walked over to her. "'Ey, Loh. Mind humoring me for a moment?" he asked.

"Hm?" Shiloh looked up at him and smiled when she saw him. "Sure, 'Len," she responded, standing. She followed him over to Kai and Marionette, who were standing away from everyone else. "Hey, everyone," she said with a simple wave.

"I was wondering if you have time for a mission," Rylen started. "It's a long one, and it's S-class, but I think you can handle it. Kai wasn't having much problems with it."

"You sure Lady Winter would be okay with that?" Shiloh asked. She wasn't S-class, and while she knew Rylen was S-class from talking to him sometimes, she wasn't sure about the other two mages.

"I've talked to her," Rylen responded. "She's okay with it. I don't necessarily get along with the other S-classers and they just got back from working on something else, so she said she trusted me to pick mages that could help me. I thought Kai and I could handle it, but I think we may be in over our heads."

Shiloh seemed to consider his proposal. "Well… I guess I can handle it, if you think I can," she said, shrugging. "When are we leaving?"

"Awesome! Thanks, Loh," he said, patting her on the head. "Ermmm…. Probably tomorrow morning at sunrise," he added. "And one more question… Why does it smell like such a bakery in here?"

"I think a few people are cooking sweets… They've been in there for at least a few hours, though," Shiloh said, turning her attention to the kitchen for a moment.

"Is this the team you've chosen, Rylen?" Winter asked, walking up. She then looked to all of them. "Yes, a perfect team, if I do say so myself," she said, smiling warmly at the mages. "Please be careful… I hate having to entrust you three to do the work of an S-class mage, but there have been so many problems in the mountains recently…. We're the closest legal mages guild, so they're trust us."

"It's not a problem, Ms. Winter," Shiloh said, waving a hand of dismissal. "Besides, it will bring some attention to Silver Griffin if we do this mission, right?"

"Surely," Winter responded. "Rest well tonight, though," she reminded them before walking off.

"I hope a mission like this will wait until the morning," Marionette commented, folding her arms across her chest.

"It will. If Kai and I try to go back to fighting again so soon, we'll probably mess up," Rylen commented. He then walked over and took a seat at one of the tables, letting out a small sigh. He was worried about taking more people with him. It was dangerous enough and in the end, he felt bad that it wasn't something that he could on his own.

"You don't really want us to go, do you?" Shiloh walked over to him and sat down. The two knew each other because while they both tried to act like older siblings or parents to the guild, they were both stand-offish in their own mannerisms and often found themselves in the same quiet places to get away from the noise, on the occasions that the noise was loud.

"Not really that… I have no problem with you and Kai and I trust Kai's judgment with Marionette, but it's just annoying to have to come back to the guild for help," Rylen admitted.

"Don't worry about it. There's no shame in needing a little help, even if you are an S-class mage," she responded with a soft smile on her face. "Besides, I'm sure we'll have no problem with it."

Rylen returned her smile with his own small smile, but didn't say anything, as the kitchen door open and Kimi twirled out, with Fawn and Cecil following her. They were all three pushing carts that were filled with various sweets, such as puddings, cakes, pies, homemade candies… Anything imaginable.

"Holy coma," Ephraim commented, staring as the females rolled the carts out, a stack of plates and silverware being placed on the end of the bar and then all of the surfaces of the guild being covered in sweets. They even had to make a trip back into the kitchen to wheel out more sweets.

"Totes carried away, you three," Viera commented. She strained herself to look around the guild, noting that there weren't even that many mages in the guild at the time. There was no way that even a fourth of their cooking was going to get eaten.

"It was so much fun, though." Fawn commented. "Would either of you like me to serve you anything?" she asked.

"If you've got something that's not going to, like, kill me with sugar or somethin'," Viera responded with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"I do believe that I was correct in your intent to kill the good people of this guild, Fawn," Ephraim commented, his eyes darting from one sweet to the next. "However, I do not find myself strong enough to hold back from this temptation." With that, he grabbed a plate and took the cake that Fawn offered him.

"Feel free to take whatever you want~" Kimi practically boomed, twirling around as she passed out plates to the people who were still sitting down. "Take some home with you, too, if you want~"

"Oh, my… Dearies, I'm sure you went overboard this time," Winter commented, even though she had already got a plate loaded down with sweets. "I do hope this doesn't get left in the guild hall, and that includes the mess."

"Not a problem~ We'll be sure to take it if no one else does," Kimi assured her. "And I don't mind cleaning."

Everyone gathered some sort of sweet in relative silence, other than the three cooks pointing out which ones they thought had come out better.

"Care for me to feed you, Marionette?" Kai asked, holding up a fork towards Marionette, who had taken a seat at the bar, hoping that Kai would keep his friend company.

"No, thank you," Marionette responded. She had a plate of some sort of triple or quadruple chocolate cake and after saying "I am perfectly capable of feeding myself," she stuffed a bite of it in her mouth.

"It's so romantic, though," Kai pointed out, his mouth partially full of food as he spoke.

"Please do not talk with your mouth full. It's simply repulsive," Marionette said, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You really like blue things, don't you, Sayomi?" Cantrelle asked as she watched Sayomi from across the table. Sayomi had a large piece of blueberry pie and a few blueberry hard candies of sorts in front of her.

"Yep," Sayomi responded. "I really think it was nice of them to make everything like this. I'm surprised they managed to get so many people's preferences covered," she commented. Everyone seemed to be eating. Then again, there also was things that were untouched, so maybe they just used quantity and scope to their advantage.

"Is everything okay, Mimi?" Kimi asked, skipping over. She didn't have a plate, but instead had the stick of some sort of sucker sticking out of her mouth. "I've always seen you with blue candies, so I attempted to make some." Kimi didn't really see Sayomi talk to that many people, so this was the pink mage's attempt at reaching out to her.

A small smile crossed Sayomi's lips. "It's delicious… Thank you," she responded politely, chewing at her lips slightly as she spoke. Kimi tried to interact with her sometimes, but it wasn't the easiest feat to speak with someone who was so seamlessly outgoing.

"You're welcome~" Kimi practically hummed. "I'm so happy you liked it," she added. She then thought for a moment, trying to think of something to interest Sayomi. When she wasn't really sure, she decided to aim for something that they had in common. "We should go on a mission together sometimes, Mimi~" she suggested.

"Oohh. I wanna go," Cantrelle said, their conversation now catching her attention.

"You can tag along, too, then," Kimi responded. "So, what do you say, Mimi?" she asked, turning her focus back to Sayomi.

"Uhm, sure… One day," Sayomi said, smiling shyly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ That's it. I don't feel as though I got as carried away with this chapter as the last one, but it's still really long. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Sorry if this one sucked. I'm trying really hard with trying to get passed introductions, but I'll probably start writing some stuff outside the guild next chapter or the chapter after that for sure. _

_Some notes: You will get to see the mission that Kai, Marionette, Shiloh and Rylen go on, or at least some of it, and you will also get to see the mission that Kimi speaks of. "Midnight Petals" is made up, as far as I'm aware. ^^;_

_**Finally. I don't plan on emphasizing teams as much in this one as the last one, for those who read the old fic. So… If you want to see a character work with another character(s), tell me and I'll see what I can do! :3**_

_Anyway. Hope you enjoyed. Don't be too harsh, please. I know this chapter may not be the best, I struggled with writing some of these characters, even Rylen, who is my own character. .; _

_**Le credits (Only For first appearances):**_

_Kimi Rosa, Rylen Faust: Me_

_Marionette Malone: La Maitresse' Dame_

_Kai Cardwell: Fairytailwolf6_

_Fawn Kaliskia, Ephraim Madhuri, Viera Ngaione – Puffypuffin3_

_Mercy Garden - DarkHyena_

**Review Reponses:**

_**First, thank you all for the reviews~ It's really loved! X3**_

_-Cat the Alien – Yeah. There will probably be a few of those. I'm not too huge on pop culture, though. It was more brought on by the fact that I have a new Pokemon game. ^^; Sorry the interactions seemed forced. I think it's just from me writing with new characters and not having a full image on how the griffins will react at this moment. It'll get better, I hope. ^^;_

_-Paperman0 – Thank you~ ^^ I'm glad you liked the comedy. :3 You will most likely see next chapter, I think~_

_-Dragonspirit996 – I don't generally take OCs from guest accounts. ^^; I'm really sorry, but I've had bad experiences with it. Sorry!_

_-FrozenBlast13 – Thank you~ I really find the characters to be diverse as well, and it makes me happy. I really want to get to the fighting as well, and I hope to do that soon, as fight scenes and romance scenes are the best to write. C:_

_Naofumi – I'm so happy that I was able to portray Bandera correctly~ ^.^_

_-Hayley Le – I'm so happy that you enjoyed the chapter so much. I'm really glad you liked how I portrayed Cecil as well. I hope I can continue to do this. :D I'm really happy that you've liked all of the characters that have appeared. And Fame can be less than nice, and he doesn't really care too much about this fact. Henri is really socially awkward, and Bandera doesn't really care who he is flirting with, to be honest. :3_

_-La Maitresse' Dame – Yeah… I won't normally update so quick, unfortunately. ; n ; I'm ignoring homework right now because it's mostly physics homework, which I hate, to say the least. Normally, I want to update twice a month, though. :U I've edited Fame's appearance just a bit and his personality was supposed to seem off from lack of sleep. He's very grumpy when without sleep, and sometimes just because he's a grouch. And with typos, I don't think I can see them sometimes. D: I always read over things now, though. :I Anyway, glad you liked the chapter~_

_-Barrett M107 – I'm happy you liked the chapter so much~ And the characters~ Yep, Fame's my baby. I like him a lot. And my goal is to make sure everyone hates Crystal by the end of this. She's not supposed to be a liked character. XD_

_-FanO'theNinja121 – I'm happy you enjoyed it~ Sayomi will be going on a mission soon to make her appear more~ :3 I decided to make her become friends with Kimi, since Kimi's really sweet and tries to be friends with everyone. I hope this is okay. C:_

_-Nicky Azure – I think Mira is some of the inspiration behind Cecil. C: Yep. I can't have a story without my trouble-maker gang. XD I'm glad I portrayed Vesta good, and you will get to see them all later~ :P_

_-Reitzel-chan – I'm so happy I portrayed Henri okay~ And I'm glad you liked the chapter._

_-Sakura-Fiction – I'm happy you liked the chapter. Yeah, there are a few characters that will be returning. Vesta and Azura were from the same creator, though they do have some differences. :D_

_-JustanSpecialist – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter~ And with Fame, it's more of an arrogance thing, but it will be explained more later when his backstory is revealed more. C:_

_-MyDearWatson – I'm really happy I managed to keep the comedy up~ And yeah, it was quite fun to write Fame and Bandera. I'm glad I portrayed Shiloh correctly and I hope I can continue to do this. Fame tends to run from his past and since Shiloh is part of that, he tends to be quite mean to her. He's mean to most people, but it's a lot more towards her, I think. XD_

_-IdentityCrisis.03 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter~ I hope the feelings are the same for this one. :3_

_-LightAndDarkHeart – I'm happy I portrayed Julius well. And Winter is supposed to come off as a comical, but sweet grandma~ As with Bandera, his creator told me that he was "desperate" and Juvia came to mind. XD_

_-Death Obelisk – I'm so happy I portrayed Ryuuga well and I'm happy you liked the chapter~ ^.^_

_-Reven228 – I'm so happy that Silver Griffin comes off like a real guild in the Fairy Tail universe. X3_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: **__Heya, guys~ This will most likely be the last chapter that I post until around December 11__th__ or 12__th__, unless I finish my ton of homework before Thanksgiving's break is up. The good news is that this is the last purely introduction chapter. There are still a few more characters left to introduce, but they will be introduced over the course of the next six or seven chapters instead, as all but two will be joining the guild and I don't think it would be realistic for all of the joining characters to join over a span of a week or so. _

_Finally, if you have any opinions on shippings, feel free to say so. There are only three or four-ish pairings that I am certain of, and I won't reveal who any of them are, so I'll be using reviews to influence the pairings a bit._

_Also, if you have any thoughts on festivities/arcs/missions, feel free to say something. :D_

_Anyway, enjoy~ This is the longest chapter so far. Sorry. ; n ;  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>September 25<strong>**th****, X791, midday**

"Oh, come on. Is that really all you got, Niki?" a woman called to her friend who was a few feet away from her. This woman had a rather blank expression on her pale, freckled face, save from the light sparkle in her round hazel eyes. This woman stood at 5'8'' with a slender body that was clothed in an off-shoulder black top, green cargo pants and red sneakers. She wore a straw hat atop her pixie styled silver hair, and this hat shielded her expression. A stud in her nose caught the sunlight overhead when she moved her hat.

The woman across from her was a slightly younger female that while being smaller, had a bit more curves than her opponent. Her hair was pulled into a low ponytail that reached the middle of her back and it was black with a few red highlights. Her bangs framed her face. She was dressed in sleeveless black shirt that had purple and gold trim on the bottom of it, with a purple line pattern on the lower right that consisted of one line that crossed itself many times, along with detached sleeves that matched the shirt, save the pattern, black fingerless gloves, black denim shorts with a waistcoat that matched her sleeves, a black leather belt with a purple sheath, black knee-high stockings and black ankle boots.

At that moment, the woman, Niki was on the ground and her dark red eyes were tightly shut, her fair skin covered in sweat as she fell down from her hands and knees onto her elbows. "Don't be fooled, Daze…" she breathed out, a weak, but cocky grin spreading across her face. She was overcoming the magic that Daze, the silver haired woman, had cast on her. She was supposed to be completely numb at that moment, but she had managed to regain control of her hearing, being able to hear the sound of the rushing river nearby and her opponent's voice, and her own speech. However, when she tried to open her eyes, she was still blind, and her head was throbbing to the point of not being able to think. She knew that all she needed to do was get her sword and fight, but it seemed beyond her control.

Daze frowned, folding her arms over her chest. She wasn't sure why Niki wanted her to be a sparring partner. While she knew hand-to-hand combat, her magic was an unseen force, not really something you could practice your agility with, or magic tolerance, really. Every time, it was pretty much the same thing, with nearly the same turnout. Sure, Niki was becoming better at overcoming her spells, but did it really matter if there weren't very many-if any, mages like her around?

Niki growled to herself as she pulled herself to her knees and reached her left hand across to grab the purple-clothe wrapped handle of the blade that she had named Eirandal and unsheathe it. It was a fine sword, with a guard of black ebony wings, a narrow forte, and silver pointed blade. Though she still felt numb, she pulled herself to her feet, wobbling as she tried to balance. She opened her eyes, which could now make out some shapes in the blur. Realizing that there was no sense in relying on her eyesight, she clothed her eyes and exhaled. "Gunblade Magic: Load," she whispered to herself. With that, an ethereal white trigger appeared on the handle of the sword, and 30 tick marks appeared on the hilt.

Daze raised an eyebrow and then readied herself to dodge. Apparently, Niki was pretty serious about the fight this time, if she was actually going to full out attack. Maybe she was getting a lot better. Then again, why did it matter? Oh, well. It could be fun to have a full on battle.

With that, Niki charged forward, her body still not completely stable. "I will win this fight!" she cried, as she thrust her sword towards Daze, calling out " Gunblade Magic: Scattershot!" Seven tick marks vanished from the sword as seven small, white orbs burst from the end of Niki's sword, two of them hitting Daze in the stomach before the other mage sidestepped and then mumbled, "Virus Magic: Trojan." Daze's eyes widened and she let out a small snort after her spell was cast. "Using Propulsion Strike and then Homing Shot? Are you just trying to look cool?" she asked, having seen a glimpse into Niki's mind as she used her magic.

Niki grimaced at the sound of Daze's spell, already having extensive knowledge of what it did. She knew now that her perception and reaction time was lowered, so without thinking of where Daze actually was, two tick marks left her blade as her magic consumed the charges, and she swung her sword widely. When it collided with her opponent, it burst into white energy and knocked her back, her sneakers skidding on the ground as she tried to catch herself. She smiled to herself. "Looks like I bested your magic, that t-time….?" Niki blinked when she opened her eyes as everything around her seemed to be moving slow. It was weird and even though her vision was still blurry, she felt as though she was missing something. The feeling made her sick and while she grasped her sword and tried to figure out exactly where Daze was, it seemed pointless.

When the magic was over, Niki felt pain surge through every part of her body as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She saw bruises on her shoulders and could feel that the corner of her left eye was starting to swell. "What kind of spell was that…?" she asked, wiping the blood from her mouth.

"Just something that I've got up my sleeve," Daze responded with a light shrug of her shoulders. Her hat was masking the tiny smirk she had on her face. Before she said anything else to Niki, she looked over to the woman who was approaching them with a picnic basket in her hands.

"Hello," the woman greeted with a small twitch of her lips. She was a simple woman, with long, wavy brown hair and brown eyes with dark lashes, apricot skin and an average body. She was dressed in half-sleeve white blouse, blue skinny jeans, a sea green belt, and black knee-high boots. The front of her hair was held up by a black headband.

"Oh, hey, Ella," Daze said with a small wave. While it was often times just Niki and herself that trained together by the river, sometimes Niki invited the quieter members of the guild to train with them, to try to get them to come out of their shells more or something like that. Apparently, Ella was in the guild at one of the times when Niki stopped by.

Niki walked over, now standing straight as if she wasn't hurt, though the bruises were still visible. "Did you make a picnic lunch?" Niki asked, looking down at the basket curiously.

"No. Cecil and Kimi asked where I was going, and when I told them, they made it for me," Ella responded, her eyes falling to the basket. "They said it had a lot of sweets in it, so I hope you two like sweets," she said with another small twitch of the lips.

"Sounds yummy," Niki commented, now stretching with her arms above her head. She had finally regained all of her senses completely, and it felt like waking up from a really long sleep where she didn't move at all. "You can probably leave it on the ground near the trees by that cottage," she said, pointing to a tiny cottage that was made of stone, with a yellow straw roof. The cottage had all kinds of little vegetation outside of it, but it wasn't very healthy, and it had all kinds of little decorations around it.

"Does anyone live in that cottage?" Ella asked, tilting her head to the side in a cute fashion.

"I don't think so," Niki responded. "I've been using this little field as a training grounds for about five months and I've never seen anyone. I've even knocked on the door a couple of times."

"Yeah… I'm pretty sure if someone lived there, they'd have already come out and told us to get off their lawn," Daze commented.

"Yeah, I guess," Ella said, placing the picnic basket next to the tree. She attempted to see into the cottage through the window, but all she saw were golden curtains. She shrugged it off and then walked back over to the group. "Were you going to train with me today, Niki?"

"I figured we could all train some together," Niki responded, now stretching her legs, leaning both of her hands on her thighs as she stretched forward.

"I'm up for that," Daze said with a shrug. "What type of magic you got, Ella?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip and tilting her hat up so that Ella could see her eyes.

"I use Stellar Management," Ella answered. "It uses a lot of magic, so I'll probably be practicing hand-to-hand combat with a bit of magic, if that's okay."

"That's fine with me," Niki said, glancing down quickly at the tick marks on her blade. Twenty-one left. She then jumped back to put distance between herself and her training partners. "So, who's gonna make the first move?"

Ella glanced from Daze to Niki and then back to Daze again. After a moment, her fists began to glow with a faint purple magic that resembled the galaxy and she charged at Daze, throwing one magic coated fist at her.

Daze dodged by tilting her shoulder to the side and then swiveled around her, elbowing the chocolate-haired mage in the back to cause her to stumble forward. "You've gotta be quicker than that," she said in a low voice. She then attempted to do a low sweep, but Ella dove forward with a quick roll.

However, this move left her open to Niki, who had already used one of her charges to use her Propulsion Shot. She was in the sky when she called out, "Gunblade Magic: Homing Shot!" taking three more charges from her sword as she fired one projectile that locked onto to Ella.

Ella fell from her knees and rolled onto her back. She shot her palms forward and a cloudy back shield appeared in front of her body. It compacted to absorb the damage of the impact of the projectile, but it poofed into shiny smoke when the homing shot exploded. Ella let out a small yip of surprise and rolled, scrambling to her feet.

"Gotcha!" Niki called as two charges disappeared in order for her to use her Point-Blank Shot, the same thing she had used when Daze disoriented her. She swung her sword at Ella and right as it was about to hit, she felt herself become disoriented once again. "Dammit…" she hissed as she barely missed Ella, who was able to side-step with relative ease as Niki began to slow down. "Gotta… React," she murmured, her right hand gripping her forehead as she closed her eyes. Without looking, she took her sword and began to fire repeatedly in any direction behind her, trying to ward off Daze. With every shot, a tick mark disappeared.

Daze arched a brow, noting that she was firing blindly, even though she could see. Apparently, she didn't want to deal with the slowing of processes that Trojan instilled on her. Daze dodged the bullets with relative ease, ducking or hopping when it was necessary. When she saw the last tick mark disappear, she smirked and darted forward, her fist colliding with the side of Niki's face, sending her stumbling back with a small yelp.

Niki landed on her back, her sword still in her hand. She wondered what had made her stop firing, but then she realize she must be getting low on magic. She grimaced, staring at her sword. She shouldn't have ran out so fast! She was usually able to reload at least once or twice!

"Niki," Daze said, standing over her now. "I'm not sure why you choose me as a sparring partner, but I will tell you your flaws here and now." She extended a hand to help the other girl up and then sighed. "You think you have a lot of magic left without thinking of how my magic attacks my enemies, and your arrogance can leave you open."

"I'm not that arrogant," Niki responded with her bottom lip stuck out ever so slightly. "And does your magic hurt the magic of others?"

"My magic attacks internally in general," Daze responded. "And you are. That face you wear when you're not throwing an internal fit shows that you think way too highly of yourself."

"I'm not throwing an internal fit, either," Niki protested.

"Hey, why don't we sit down and eat?" Ella suggested. She hadn't gotten to train much, but she could see the argument between the two females having a potential to get heated, even though Daze seemed perfectly calm.

"Okay!" Niki said, losing sight of the argument fairly quickly.

"I'm game," Daze said with a small shrug to her shoulders.

With that, the three unfolded the pink clothe that came with the picnic basket and sat down a few feet away from the cottage, taking food out of the basket. Sure enough, it was mostly a collection of sweets that included a pudding cup, a slice of pie and a slice of cake a piece, but there was also a sandwich a piece and some various fruits, along with bottled water.

"So… Do you train like this a lot, Niki?" Ella asked after taking a bite out of an apple.

"Hmmm… I guess," Niki responded after taking a long drink of water. She looked around the field, which was mostly flat save for the cottage and the river. The sound of rushing water and the scent of grass was soothing. Not to mention, the air was starting to cool down, which made it even more relaxing. "I started about five months ago, and when I can't find missions that interest me, I spend a lot of time training. I train at least three or four times days out of a week, if I don't have any missions."

"Hmm… It sounds like fun," Ella responded. Ella had been a griffin for around three years, and while all of the mages trained, it wasn't that common for her to train with people and she didn't know where a lot of them trained. She talked to some of the more stand-offish people like Sayomi and she spoke with Shiloh sometimes, but the latter was more from the fact that, like Niki, Shiloh tended to speak to the quieter members of the guild.

"Feel free to ask me to train with you, sometimes," Niki responded, now eating one of the slices of cake that was in the basket. "I always love someone to train with."

"She'll drag you with her sometimes now that she knows you'll train with her," Daze noted. She was idly rolling an orange around her in hand while listening to the conversation of the other two girls.

Niki laughed lightly and then grinned. "I can't help it. I enjoy the company. I'm a social being," she said in her defense.

"Ohh… I didn't expect to see of my griffins out near Nekane's home," an elderly voice said, not long after they had finished the picnic and were about to train again. The three girls looked to see Winter and Bandera walking towards them.

"Nekane?" Niki asked, looking over to the cottage, which still seemed empty and then back to Winter. "Someone does live here?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"Oh, yes… It's a very sweet young lady that lives here," Wintere responded. "You haven't met her?"

"No, but I train here a lot and I've even knocked on the door a few times before," Niki responded, furrowing her brows. She wondered if they were causing problems for the lady in the cottage.

"Oh… That's strange… I'm sure she's home," Winter said. "I met her in town a couple of weeks ago and scheduled a meeting with her." With this, Winter knocked on the door to the old cottage and the door opened almost instantly.

A small woman with thin hips and a large bust popped out and wrapped her arms around Winter while exclaiming, "Lady Winter has come to visit Nekane!" The small female had pixie styled, pale greenish-white hair that had a braid framing the right side of her face and she was dressed in a simple white sun-dress that was tight at the waist, but flared from there, falling to the top of her knees. There was a pastel rainbow sash with a huge ribbon in the back tied around her waist, right under her bosom, and her feet were bare.

"You are home…" Winter stated. "Why haven't you said hi to the griffins beside your house?"

Nekane turned to the three girls and her pale pink eyes lit up, making her look even more childish. "These three are griffins? Your guild must be so awesome, Lady Winter!" She then paused, realizing that she didn't answer the question properly. "Well, they don't bother me at all, so I never wanted to be nosy… Though I have watched them train a couple of times…"

"Anyway," Nekane started again after a small, nervous laugh. "I'm Nekane Relias. I live here and I do aura things with people, or something like that."

"Aura things?" Niki asked. She saw a marble dangling from Nekane's neck and she saw that it seemed to be alternating colors between dark green and yellow green.

"Yep!" Nekane said. She then skipped over and grabbed one of Niki's hands. She held her palm under one of her hands and then placed another hand over Niki's. Niki noticed that there was a dark green magic circle on top of Nekane's hand, but she didn't question it. After a moment, it started to glow and Niki felt her entire body warm. It was a comforting feeling, and all she could do was stare the magic circle was imprinted onto the top of her own hand, spinning as it did so.

"I feel bravery and warmth, a lot of warmth," Nekane said, her eyes focused on the circle. "I can feel anger in your past, or jealousy… It's hard to read, but that's because you're a kind person and you don't let it get to you. You're an outgoing person I bet, as there is no fear in you right now, even though you're meeting a new person. I get a feeling of power from you. I bet you're really fun to go missions on!" With that, she let go and tucked her arms behind her back, fiddling with the ribbon. "I really like your aura, Miss!"

"Um, thank you," Niki responded. "So, you just read people, really? Like palm reading?"

"Sort of," Nekane answered. "I can read into the pasts of people and everything and into the magic of people, but I did a simple reading just then. I can also change your aura a bit, to make you feel happier or something."

"Anyway, Nekane, I need you to read this man… I feel as though there is magic potential in him, as does he, but he seems incapable of using it," Winter explained, pointing to Bandera.

Nekane turned to Bandera and tilted her head. "Hello," she greeted. "Come inside, please." She turned to the others and extended the offer to come inside, only to get informed that they would soon be training more.

"Hi, I'm Bandera," he returned the greeting with a smile, trying to keep her eyes on her face, and not on the way the marble sat between her bosom, once they entered the small cottage. It was a one bedroom cottage with a fluffy white bed in one corner, a small kitchenette directly across from this, and a table in the middle of the room. There were all kinds of colorful stuffed animals and decorations around the rooms and on the walls.

"Please, have a seat," Nekane said, motioning to the table. When Bandera and Winter sat down, her eyes landed on Lucie and she tilted her head. "A spirit or something?" she asked, walking over to her and crouching, her arms around her knees.

Bandera's eyes widened and Winter tilted her head, watching the scene curiously.

"Y-you can see me?" Lucie asked, taking a step back. She had never been seen by anyone other Bandera, and while she didn't know why this was, she had come to the conclusion that she would never been seen by anyone else.

"Yep!" Nekane responded. "Are you attached to Bandera?" she asked. While she was amazing at reading things and perception, she hadn't met that many spirits and all of the ones that she had met were attached to something, either an object or a being.

"I-I guess… My name is Lucie," she said, continuing to step back even after Nekane extended a hand towards her.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Nekane said with a bright smile. She then stood and turned to Bandera, grabbing both of his hands and staring down at him with large eyes. "You have a really warm aura, y'know?"

"Emmm…." Bandera blushed brightly, staring down at his hands. He could feel his speech getting caught in his throat already.

"It makes me happy to encounter people like you," Nekane continued.

"Do you feel magic in him?" Winter asked with a small chuckle.

"Oh, right," Nekane's eyes widened. "Would you mind me reading you, Mr. Bandera?"

"N-no… I-I mean, you can," Bandera sputtered.

"Okay," Nekane said. With that, she held her hands over his, her thin, short fingers coming to the second joint in his fingers. Their hands began to glow and Nekane closed her eyes as random clips of Bandera's memories, both good and bad, flashed through her mind. She felt his emotions; the strong feeling of loneliness that had turned to desperation and then the determination that later masked this desperation, turning the dark aura into one of green and happiness. But still, there was jealousy and despair. The want to be a mage, the bitterness that came from being surrounded by those who used magic effortlessly but not being able to use magic on his own. There was a fear from his past, something to do with the shadow of a large beast, one that she couldn't quite get the memory of. She could feel that he used to have a potential for magic, but it stopped. She focused, hard, trying to get to the exact point where he lost the potential.

"Is she done yet?" Lucie asked, watching Nekane with a small sparkle of fear in her eyes.

"I don't know. Her grip tightened," Bandera whispered, staring at his glowing hands in wonder. How much of him was this girl seeing? What was she looking for?

"Mrmph…" Nekane grumbled, finally opening her eyes. She was sweating and her fair skin was even paler. She let go of his hands and let out a small sigh. "You have magic. Of this I have no doubt… I do believe I have a suspicion of what the problem is, but I doubt you would believe me…"

"Really? What is it? Do you think I'll be able to use magic one day?" Bandera asked, his voice raising with excitement. He had heard this before, but this woman actually had an idea of what it could be.

Nekane crossed her hands in front of her lap and her eyes dropped, a sorrowful expression on her face. "Sometimes… Our friends may not be the best for us, even if… They cure a loneliness that can be unknown to others…" she started, tears swelling in her eyes.

"Are you saying that I'm the cause, you brat?" Lucie snapped after the room was silent for a few moments.

"Lucie!" Bandera hissed.

Nekane stepped back… "I can't say with certainty, but it wasn't until you attached to him that he lost potential." She wiped at her eyes. "I think… You may be feeding off of his magic to sustain yourself, but you don't know it… Or have control, perhaps…"

"That's ridiculous! This dolt just can't use magic because he doesn't try hard enough!" Lucie snarled. "Don't you accuse me of something when I'm the only one over years to keep this idiot from being alone."

"Please… Forgive me… It's but a theory," Nekane mumbled. She then gripped her head. "Too much darkness… Confusion, anger, despair…" she mumbled under her breath. "I didn't mean to ruin your nice aura, Mr. Bandera."

"I think it is time for us to leave," Winter said, standing. "I do believe we are disturbing her."

"But… She can help me," Bandera started to protest, the desperation in his voice nearly echoing through the house.

"I can't… I think Winter is right," Nekane responded, stepping away. "I am sorry… I am usually better with these things, but I don't want to be any more intrusive than I already have been."

"Oh, okay…." Bandera's eyes fell to the ground as Winter pulled him from the cottage, closing the door behind them.

"What a stupid girl, to accuse me of being the cause of your problems," Lucie huffed, walking ahead of them.

Bandera didn't even respond. His eyes were on the ground, his thoughts far gone from reality at that moment.

* * *

><p>Niki, Ella and Daze decided to call it a day around six in the evening. By this time, all of them had tired themselves out, but Niki still wore her crooked little smirk as they started to walk away from the field. "That was so awesome!" she cheered. The corner of her eye was still bruised, and her forearm had a cut in it, but it didn't seem to faze her.<p>

"It was quite enjoyable," Ella agreed. She was pretty bruised up, though most of her bruises were under her clothes, especially on her forearms, which were bruised up as hell, with one large cut from Niki's blade, that had been the result of her going just a little bit too far with the training.

"Yep," Daze agreed with a slight yawn. She had her battered arms tucked behind her head and her hazel eyes were on the sky, which was a deep orange, dusted in pinks and purple as the sun decided that the day was over.

"It's such a clear day… The night sky is going to be so beautiful," Ella said, her eyes going to the sky with a soft smile dancing across her face.

"Yep," Daze responded once more, with the corner of her mouth curling into a tiny smile.

"Excuse me," a loud, but polite voice called out to the girls from behind them, trying to catch their attention. The trio stopped and turned to see two females behind them, the second one hiding behind the first, holding onto her arm.

"Um, hi!" Niki said with a small wave and a bright smile. "Need something?"

The taller of the women and the one who spoke looked at the three, her almond-shaped, pale blue eyes narrowing slightly. This woman had shoulder length, dark brown hair that fell in a mess of ringlets that framed her face and covered the sides of her head and neck. Her bangs were clipped to the left side of her face with two golden pins. She stood at an average height, her eyes meeting Niki's, with large hips, but a smaller bust. Her skin was a natural mocha color and her heart-shaped face was dotted in freckles. She was dressed in a sleek, long-sleeved dress that hugged her body and stopped about two inches above her knees, with a bit of red lace around the cuffs of the sleeves. The neck of the dress was a large V, showing off some cleavage. Her hands were covered in glittery red gloves and there was a sash around her torso, below her bosom, that matched. Her legs were covered in white stockings and her feet were covered in red flats. There was a brown leather messenger pouch that hung from her shoulders, and a belt full of flasks around her waist. Overall, she looked aristocratic, and the dark red lipstick on her lips, glittery gold eyeshadow, and dark mascara and eyeliner amplified this look. This stood out against her friend.

The girl who was cowering stood at 5'2'' with a rather large bosom. She was dressed in a sleeveless pastel pink top that had pleated ends in a large white ribbon on the front of the v-neck of it, along with hot pink shorts that had a small, orange, blushing bear print on the left leg, along with a white cloth bracelet with the same bear on around her right wrist, cream slip-ons with pastel pink soles and white ribbons on each ankle, and a cream colored cashmere scarf with the same bear on it. Her lavender hair, which shined with many different shades of purple, was held away from her round face by a hot pink ribbon with a large clip of the bear on the left side of it, though her hair still fell in a wavy mess down her back. Her eyes were large, round and caramel in color, though they were hidden behind large, hot pink square-framed glasses. The most noticeable feature of this girl was the fact that her skin was sickly pale, her face tinted pink, and her knees and hands marred with scars. She looked worried and was shaking slightly.

"Guild mark…" the second of the girls pointed out, nodding toward Ella's right hand, where there was a sea green guild mark.

The first female's eyes dropped to the mark and she smiled. "Would you be so kind as to show us the way to Silver Griffin?" she asked in a polite voice.

"Sure… Lookin' to join?" Niki asked, though her eyes were on the purple-haired girl, concern in her eyes. "Or do you need help…?"

"I-I don't need help…" Gwen responded quickly, blushing brightly. "I don't feel very well, but it's normal of me," she added. She then thought for a moment. "My name's G-Gwen!"

Niki, Daze and Ella introduced themselves to the girls.

"I am Penelope Summer, the first daughter of Lord Sun-" the blue eyed girl's eyes widened and then she crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean, I'm Penny. It's awesome to meet you!"

Niki arched a brow. "Are you from Sunflower, across the river?" she asked. While she was from Crocus, Niki loved adventure, so she was really familiar with the areas that were around Nadeshiko, and some of the ones that weren't. She had heard the end of her sentence, and she also knew that Summer was the last name of the head of Sunflower Village.

"Erm, yeah," Penny responded, her eyes shifting.

"The daughter of Lord Sunflower, right?" Niki asked.

"Please don't inform him… Just take me to your guild, please?" she begged, placing her hands together under her chin and giving the girls a pleading expression. It didn't take long for someone to recognize her. She felt so stupid.

"Harboring runaways… Sounds like somethin' Lady Winter's gonna enjoy!" Niki responded, her signature smirk returning to her face after she chuckled at the girls.

Penny breathed a sigh of relief, placing her hands over her chest and dropping her hand. "I thank you," she mumbled.

"Thank you so much," Gwen added, bowing her head slightly, her hands crossed in her lap. "W-will be grateful."

"No problem," Niki said, turning to walk away.

"You know… Maybe we should ask some more about them, like why they're running," Daze pointed out.

"It is nothing that should be of major concern or threat," Penny responded quickly. "I just… Need to get stronger and so does Gwen. Sunflower doesn't have much to offer to mages."

"I'm s-sorry. I know it seems suspicious," Gwen mumbled, hugging herself as she walked with the other girls.

"Nah… Winter brings in suspicious people all the time," Niki said with a shrug. "I'm pretty sure if we knew where everyone in the guild came from, we would all feel…. Unsafe, to say the least."

"Well, I do speculate that this guild will be positively grand, at least for Gwen and myself," Penny responded. She then cleared her throat. "I mean, this guild's gonna be totally awesome!"

"You trying to drop the rich-girl speech or something?" Daze asked, noticing that one minute, Penny would speak with a proper tone and then the next minute, she seemed to be mimicking an almost country accent and trying to hold herself differently.

Penny fiddled with the ends of her hair and let out a small sigh. "I am afraid so, dearest," she mumbled. "I am quite impartial… I don't like my roots. I want to destroy them by becoming a strong mage."

"I don't think anyone at Silver Griffin is gonna care how you speak," Daze responded.

"Nope," Niki agreed. They were in town now, and the sun had set for the most part, though the tall streetlights that sat atop black iron poles kept the sky bathed in a yellow glow. "We're in Nadeshiko," she pointed out.

"It's so pretty," Gwen commented as they passed down cobblestone streets, peering into little cafes and trinket shops as they walked. Sunflower was brighter and had a more golden, regal appeal to it, but seeing the darker, antique appear of Nadeshiko, and how everything was accented in purple intrigued her.

"It is," Penny agreed. "We should spend tomorrow finding some bookstores," she added. The town looked like it could harbor some pretty interesting old texts, after all.

"I can help you, if you wish," Ella said in a small voice. "I know where a lot of the bookstores are," she added.

Okay, then it's a deal," Penny responded.

* * *

><p>Once they got to Silver Griffin, Niki, Ella and Daze parted ways from Gwen and Penny, who were left to walk in the guild alone. The hall was fairly empty, save for a female bartender and a few mages at various tables.<p>

A tall old woman instantly approached them. "Welcome to Silver Griffin. What do you two need?" she asked in a stern voice, glaring down at the two females.

Gwen instantly tuckered behind Penny, who, though taken-aback by the harsh tone, placed her hands on her hips and spoke. "We wish to join your guild. We are both mages."

"And where do you come from?" the woman asked, glaring harder at Gwen since she cowered. "And what makes you think we want sickly, cowering mages in our guild?"

"S-s-sorry," Gwen whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.

"You are a mages' guild right? Legal under the Magic Council, I presume?" Penny started, returning Crystal's glare with her own. "That means that mages have the right to pledge their loyalty to you? And I assure you, though Gwendolyn is sick, she can outsmart the likes of you in less than two seconds."

"Is that so? Do you really think coming in here with such a nasty, pompous attitude like yours will get you anywhere?" Crystal growled.

A few of the mages were now watching the scene, and Cecil had left the room.

"I see no reason to treat kindly those who pick on the weak," Penny growled. She had heard that the guild master of Silver Griffin was kind. Someone had obviously deceived her and she wanted to smash their faces…. Sit down and have a kind but stern talk with them. Happy thoughts.

"Penny…" Gwen mumbled, pulling Penny back. "W-we should just go…"

While Crystal and Penny glared at each other, Cecil returned with Winter by her side.

"What is going on here?" Winter started, stepping in between the two. "Crystal, what have you said to these two?"

"Nothing. Just trying to take out the trash before you call it a mage," Crystal growled.

"Get out of here you, get, get!" Winter snapped, whacking Crystal on the head and then in the back with her cane, pushing her away. "Off with you!" she barked when Crystal stared at her. When a magic circle appeared in front of Winter's hand, Crystal fled before a spell could even be cast. "Now… Dearies," she said, turning to Gwen and Penny. "You wish to join Silver Griffin?"

Penny stared for a moment. This old lady, once the anger disappeared, looked a lot nicer than the previous one and she pieced together that the other lady, was not the guild master she had heard of. "Uhm, yes, Madame Griffin, my friend and I would like to pledge our loyalty to your fine establishment…."

"Oh, of course, of course!" Winter said, clapping like a child who had been informed that they were going to Disneyworld-which doesn't exist in the Fairy Tail universe sadly.

"Thank you," Gwen breathed, wiping tears from her eyes.

"No problem, dearie," Winter said, patting Gwen on the head. "Where would you like your guild marks and what color?" she asked.

Penelope rolled down her right stocking to reveal her thigh while Gwen held out the top of her left hand. "Dark red, please," Penny said, while Gwen said "Hot pink".

Winter placed a hand in the desired spot and at first, the area was the frozen shape of three claws with feathers surrounding them, but then Winter snapped her fingers, and the ice vanished to reveal their guild marks.

Penny stared at hers for a moment before rolling up her stocking, though the guild mark could still be seen. "Did you not find it necessary to see our magic?" she asked.

"Oh, no… I'm quite perceptive and I can tell that you have magic, and that's all that matters!" Winter responded with a bright smile. "Welcome to the guild." With that, she walked away, leaving the girls to on the own.

"I-I'm gonna go meet people," Gwen said in a tiny voice, holding her marked hand to her chest.

"Need me to come…?" Penny asked. She needed to get outside for a moment, let off steam or something, before meeting more people.

Gwen shook her head. "You can go outside," she said with a tiny smile before leaving Penny on her own.

* * *

><p>Penny found herself in the backyard of Silver Griffin, in a gated area. She noted that while there were few fully grown plants, there were many seedling and such, along with a bench on each wall of the gate. The scent was peaceful and she found herself crouching at the plants to figure out what kinds of flowers there were. It appeared that they had been watered recently and she wondered if Winter was the one who tended to the garden.<p>

"Are you a guild member?" A male's voice caused her to stiffen and then stand up straight. She turned to see a male with curly brown hair that fell to his pointed chin, deep blue eyes, sharp facial features and thick lips. He was the same height as her with fair skin, broad shoulders and a slightly lanky appearance. He was dressed in a dark green shirt, black leather jacket, gray pants and black boots. He was watching her warily.

"Yes, my name by birth is Penelope Summer and I decided to call your-" she cleared her throat. "I mean, I'm Penny. I'm new around here."

"Well, hi," he said with a wry smile and a roll of his shoulders. "I'm Dariel." He then walked over to her. "Are you admiring my handiwork?" he asked.

"I guess I am," she responded, folding her arms over her chest. It took her a minute to respond to everything, because she was trying to act normal. Well, normal to people who weren't held on a pedestal their entire lives like she was. "I… I really like plants and stuff, I guess. They're really good for potion making, and that's kinda my thing…"

"Your accent sounds fake," he pointed out bluntly. "And it's nice to find someone else who appreciates plants. I'm still working on this garden, though. It was overgrown and I finally decided to do something with it, since we've been getting so many guild members as of late."

"That's nice," she said, rolling the words in her mouth before she spoke, making it sound as if she was having problems with language in general. "I could help you, if you'd like."

"Why are you trying to cover up your voice? It's weird. And I wouldn't mind help."

"Hmph. There are some things that just don't appear to work," she said, letting her proper accent come back through. She then let out a sigh. She looked around and noticed the gardening materials that were sitting on one of the benches and walked over to them. Removing her gloves and putting them in her pockets, she grabbed a few packs of seeds and found an area that wasn't highly populated with plants.

"What made you decide to join Silver Griffin?" Dariel asked as he began to help her some more.

"It is good change of pace," Penny responded bluntly. "What about you, handsome? How about let us not talk about me?"

Dariel arched a brow at her use of the word, "Handsome", but then shrugged. "I dunno," he responded.

It was an obviously a lie, but Penny didn't question it. One, she had just met the man, and two, he could possibly just be one of the proofs that Silver Griffin was a haven for runaways. Either way, it wasn't her place to question. "Where does your love for plants come from?" She decided to ask.

"I'm so surprised you didn't say 'stem from' or 'the root of my love for plants'," Dariel pointed out with a small snort. "I use plant magic, pretty much," he then answered.

Penny laughed at his pun and then smiled back at him. "Really? Mind if I do something?" she asked.

"Depends on what that is," re responded, stepping back a bit.

"I am not being weird, I promise," Penny said, standing up and walking over to him. She held her palm out towards him. A white magic circle appeared and then a small amount of green liquid was pulled from inside Dariel, hovering over Penny's hand. "It's an absorbing spell. I just took a small amount," she explained. With that, she used her free hand and removed a small vial from her belt, placing the magic inside of it, shaking it so that it shimmered a bit and then stilled.

"So, that's your magic?" he asked.

"Yes. My magic in nature is the power to absorb and liquefy magic from the environment and from others, but I use the liquids in mixtures to make potions. I acquired a sample of your magic because it is plant-based, and I know many uses for the magic of nature." She then brought the vial up to eye level. "Nature magic in a pure form. Quite impressive, if I do say so myself. Not that that's saying anything about your actual combat skills, so I would not be so hasty as to take it as a compliment, good sir."

Dariel glared at her. "You are being weird. And it's dark, so, see you around," he added with a quick wave, walking off. Her only thoughts of her was that she seemed peculiar. The way she talked and her magic were both odd, to him.

"G'night, Dariel," Penny said under her breath, trying once again to change her voice. He was right; it sounded weird.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>__Heh. This chapter is long, too. I actually planned out this chapter as opposed to just writing, and I wanted to get everything in my plans down. Anyway, feel free to drop a review or something. Lots of love~_

_**Notes on this chapter:**_

_-Nekane is not a member of the guild at this moment._

_-All of the magics shown and spoke of, will be emphasized more later. I didn't want to reveal everything about their magic in a training battle._

_-The guild mark can be seen in the cover image of the book. I suck at drawing, but whatever. .;_

_-Penny's speech is supposed to seem forced and awkward. It's not my bad writing there. :U_

_-I've realized that some of my grammatical mistakes may come from my location. I'm from a back-woods-town in southern US and some things sound okay to me unless I stare really, really hard at them. I actually talk with a "typical southern accent" but I don't let it show through if I can help it. ; n ;_

_**Credits:**_

_Penelope "Penny" Summer, Gwendolyn Mori, Nekane Relias – Me_

_Nikias "Niki" Godwine – dreadburner94_

_Daze Ryder – IdentityCrisis.03_

_-Ella Ruiz – JustanSpecialist_

_-Dariel Shrike – Paperman0_

_**Review Responses – Once again, thank you all so much! I appreciate every review so much! Lots of love. (Yes, I know, it's expected that reviews are appreciated, but I will still say this at the beginning of every review response section. Showing appreciation is necessary in my mind.)**_

_-puffypuffin3 – I'm really, really happy that I got your characters right! I was so worried with Ephraim. \\\; And yes, MariKai is definite OTP of the story. XP _

_Yeah. I'm Nuzlocking so I'm taking my time with it. O.o; I bought a 3DS just for Harvest Moon and Pokemon, though I've played some other things now. ^^;_

_-JustanSpecialist – I know. I wish I could update more. Hopefully next semester won't be as hard and I will be able to update more, but I don't know. X_X I hope I did a good job with Ella! :D_

_-Naofumi – She is. :D As a huge fan of creepy-cute, I love writing her. X3 Viera and her friends are fun to write, too! Silver Griffin is mostly quiet for now, but it will get louder, I think. :U_

_-FanO'theNinja121 – Kimi loves making nicknames for people. XD And yeah, I tend to read over a character's likes/dislikes when writing and if I can incorporate something, :D_

_-Barrett M107 – I'm really happy you liked the chapter and the character introductions. I'm happy that I'm mostly done with introductions, though. X_X It's hard not to make them bland. Yeah. Update slowing sucks big time. O_o; Hopefully next semester won't be quite as hard. I can't say for sure, though._

_-Nicky Azure – Hehe. My fiancé got Omega Ruby. :3 And I will do that when I get the friend code off of my DS. I am Nuzlocking, though, so my team isn't really controllable right now. X_X With the S-class exams, I do plan on doing them again. Probably after New Year in the story. It'll be a bit after the introduction arc, once I've at least introduced all characters and their magics. I've already planned the general layout of it and everything. And good luck to you as well! X3_

_-La Maitresse Dame – Sorry. X_X I'm sure it will get much easier once their magics are revealed, and I stop flinging characters at people-which I'm mostly done with now. Sorry about the lackluster of last chapter. I find this one much better and the next one's gonna be awesome, probably as it's a mission chapter. I'm so happy I got her right. She intimidated me at first in the last story, because I'm not used to her personality type, so it makes me really happy to see I've got her down. :D_

_-Dragonspirit996 – I may work her in as a background character. I'm really sorry about that. ,;_

_-reven228 – I'm happy you like the characters~ I do, too~ Mercy definitely adds a lot of color to guild. X3_

_-MyDearWatson – If I free time, it takes me like an hour per 2k words, if I only focus on writing and know what I'm writing, which is usually the case for the most part. :D So if I say I've got time to write, I usually push out a chapter a day or every other day. :3 I agree. Viera's team is really unique. Writing Ephraim intimidated me because I'm not too good with sarcasm, as I'm actually one of the air-headed types that don't catch sarcasm most of the time. X_X I'm happy he went over well, though. Mercy's really fun to write. :3 So is MariKai. Their development is always fun. Hehehe. I'm happy that you like Rylen so much. I'll definitely remember that. X3 And sweets galore because I got a lot of characters who like to bake, and decided to have fun with it! Kimi just loves making friends. It's her specialty! XD Anyway, Shiloh's mission will start in next chapter, though it may or may not finish that chapter. C:_

_-Death Obelisk – Yep. They're actually the only full pair to make a return. :U And I assure, there will be more moments, much to Marionette's dismay._

_-FrozenBlast13 – I hope you enjoyed seeing some magic this chapter~ I really wanted to write a battle, so I made a training sequence! :D_

_-Fairytailwolf6 – Yeah. I think I'm getting back in swing now. This chapter turned out a lot better in my opinion. :D_


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Hiya, guys! I got the chapter done early! It's long, but it didn't really take me that long to write. C: It may be the tenth or later for the next chapter, but who knows. I may be early. I'm almost done with my homework and need to study, but it just depends. :D Anyway, this chapter is all about Rylen and co.'s mission. I didn't want it to be too long, so I didn't include anything else. Sorry. ^^; Enjoy!

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><p><strong>September 27<strong>**th****, X791, early morning**

"Len, if you don't mind me asking, where are we headed?" Shiloh asked, sprinting to catch up to Kai and Rylen, who were walking just a few feet ahead of her. They had been traveling into the mountains near Nadeshiko for two days, having camped out the first night. Rylen had asked her on the mission, and Kai had asked Marionette to tag along, but neither of them had talked much about the mission.

Rylen turned and gave her a small smile. "Eh… We should get to the town that we're working for by midday. I wanted us to leave early because I've got some matters to attend to once we get there," he explained. He had woken the team up the moment the sun decided to show any sign of rising and had already cooked for them. He then had them walking in a comfortable-at least for him-silence.

"Don't worry 'bout it, babe," Kai said, flashing her a boyish, lopsided grin and tucking his arms behind his head. He had been quiet for a bit of the morning, only yawning every-so-often. He wasn't really a morning person, at least not a wake-up-before-sunrise-morning person, and that was a downside to working with Rylen like he did often. His cyan-haired friend really never seemed to sleep. He wondered if the stress lines in between his nose and eyes came from the lack of sleep, but never bothered to ask, as it seemed like prying. "I'll protect ya if ya get scared!"

Shiloh arched a brow at Kai, her eye twitching with a bit of annoyance. "Yeah, okay," she said in a flat voice. The sarcasm could only be heard if one really tried.

Marionette rolled her eyes. "I am pretty sure no one on this team needs someone like you to protect them," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. She had enjoyed the silence while it lasted, but it was bound to end eventually.

"Are we just taking down a dark guild or something?" Shiloh asked, reverting her attention back to Rylen after laughing lightly at Marionette's words.

"Sort of," Rylen responded after a moment of thought. "It's… I want to say that a dark mages' guild would have to be behind it, but I'm not really sure. We haven't really met a lot of people per say..."

"So…" Shiloh was about to ask what they would be fighting that would require a full team, but her voice trailed off. Rylen never actually said that they would be fighting; he had just told her that he needed help with his mission. It could be a wrongful assumption.

"Eh… There are these weird crystals all throughout the mountain," Rylen started. "They summon things like elemental wisps that destroy things… Like, Kai and I found a green crystal and the elementals and they were absorbing the life of the land…"

"Yeah. We… Didn't do too good," Kai said with a frown. "The creatures themselves aren't too much. They go out in just a few swings, but just being too close to the crystals causes them to produce lots more of these things."

"This would be easier with a team because of this," Rylen explained. "If three of us hold off the enemies, one of us can attack the crystal. Kai and I weren't enough. I was nearly incapacitated by the time we took out the green crystal."

"You have no idea what the source of these crystals may be?" Marionette asked calmly.

"No," Rylen said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "I feel as though they may be used to absorb magic for a bigger plan, and the mountains would be a good place to do this because there aren't really that many towns in these mountains. The creatures they produce seem to be purely a defense mechanism, as they focus fire on whoever is closer to the crystal, if not distacted."

"The creatures are made of magic, right?" Shiloh asked. When Rylen and Kai confirmed this, she looked back to Rylen. "Can't you just use your magic to dispose of them?"

"I can, but it's exhausting on my magic. That's a lot of magic to take in in small amounts of time."

"Oh," Shiloh said. "Well, I'm sure we can do it with the four of us here."

"Do you know how many crystals there are?" Marionette asked.

"Not exactly," Rylen responded.

"You can feel 'em when you get anywhere near one, though," Kai said. "It pulls at your magic reserves… Like, you can almost feel it being taken from you."

"Sounds tedious," Marionette commented.

"It is," Rylen responded. "It's not so much that you should feel worried, though. As long as you're not reckless with your magic, you shouldn't get tired out that fast."

With that, the group fell back into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Kai started asking Rylen how well he knew the mountains.

Shiloh noticed that Rylen's eye twitched and narrowed before he forced a smile. "I know most of them, apart from the far northern range," he responded.

"Thought so," Kai said with a nod.

* * *

><p>The town that they were working for was known as Yarrow, and it was hidden behind a tall stone wall. They were instantly stopped at the gates by guards who were dressed in steel armor, equipped with spears and shields. "Please. The town of Yarrow is in havoc, state your business."<p>

Rylen arched a brow and then realized that they were probably not the same guards that let Kai in. "We're mages of Silver Griffin and we're here to speak with Lord Eyren, please," he said in a formal but firm voice.

"Please present your guild marks," the guards responded.

Rylen brushed his hair away from his left ear and tilted his head so that the small black claw marks and feathers were visible. Kai lifted his shirt to reveal the dark green guild mark that was over his heart. Shiloh stepped forward and pointed to her right hip, where there was a neon blue guild mark, and Marionette revealed the white mark that was near her abdomen.

"Okay, you may pass," the guards said, stepping aside after opening the gate.

The griffins walked into the town, which was colored with whites and browns, the paths of the town being dirt, lined with many white flowers and the building being made of logs. It was a simple town but after looking around, one could see that on the far end of the town was charred and the buildings were in a pile of rubble. There were people around the rubble, rebuilding the stone wall.

"Whoever made the crystals made a fire aligned one and when they destroyed it, it exploded," Rylen explained. He and Kai then led the two women to the middle of the town, where there was a two story cabin that had many flowers surrounding it, and a huge dogwood tree outside of it. They walked up onto the wrap around porch and Rylen knocked on the door.

A small elderly man emerged from the house a few seconds later, dressed in a white suit, leaning on a dark wooden cane. "Oh, Rylen, Kai, you returned quickly," he said with a bright smile.

"Yessir," Rylen said with a polite smile. "We're just coming here to report that we are back on the mission."

"And who are these two fine young ladies?" Lord Eyren asked.

Shiloh and Marionette then proceeded to introduce themselves in polite manners.

"Oh, well, excellent," the man, Lord Eyren, said with a small clap of his hands. "You'll be staying in my guest bedrooms again, if that is okay," he said. "There are still many townsfolk that are misplaced. Follow me." With that, the old man disappeared into the house and the griffins followed.

The first room that they could see when entering the house appeared to be an office, with a white plush carpet spread over the floor, a desk with piles of papers on it and an office chair, along with overstuffed beige and brown sofas that lined the wall that the door was on. There were bookshelves lining the west wall, along with one large window that had the beige curtains drawn back so that the town could be seen beyond it. There was a ceiling fan with two flower shaped lights hanging from it. Through the doorway that was to the east, a hallway could be seen. There was a small staircase in front of the griffins.

Lord Eyren walked up the stairs, glancing over his slouched shoulder to make sure that the griffins were following, and led them to the end of the hallway that the stairs led to, where two doors faced each other. "Both of these rooms have two beds in them. You can room however you like, but please keep in mind that my granddaughter's room is right here," he tapped the door that was beside one of the doors with his cane, "and the walls are only so thick."

Kai laughed lightly, while Marionette huffed and Shiloh sweat-dropped. The request seemed to go completely over Rylen's head and he gave his teammates questioning looks, to which he received a playful punch in the shoulder from Kai.

"Anyway, take a moment to get settled in, and then come downstairs and we can talk," Lord Eyren said, walking away.

Marionette and Shiloh took the room that was close to the granddaughter's room and Rylen and Kai took the other.

The rooms were both simple, with small, white beds, a dresser and two nightstands. They had brown carpet in them and the frames of the bed were made of logs.

Rylen closed the door behind them and threw his backpack on the bed, stretching his arms over his head.

"You're a bit dense in the romance department, aren't you, Rylen?" Kai asked with a huge lopsided smirk across his face.

"I've dated before," Rylen responded, looking at him over his shoulder. "Most women don't show much interest in a man who spends most of his time away on missions, though."

"Really?" Kai asked. "I can't imagine someone like you with a girl. You seem so uptight about most things."

"Huh," Rylen responded, fiddling with the back of headband. "I don't know. I think being raised in the guild made me a bit more focused on work more than anything else," he said with a small roll of his shoulders.

"Why don't you date a woman in the guild? You and Shiloh seem to get along," Kai pointed out.

"Loh and I get along because the maturity level of the guild is lacking at times," Rylen responded. "She's someone I can talk to without immediately getting challenged to a spar. Same reason I talk to you. Not the maturity thing."

"Hey!" Kai began to protest. "I can be mature when I need to be!"

"Yeah, I believe you," Rylen responded sincerely, which surprised Kai. "It's just not you to be serious and mature unless it calls for it. I actually respect how you can be so carefree."

"Well, thanks," Kai said with a grin. Rylen was a few years older than him, and ever since they had met, he felt as though the S-class mage was like a real older brother. Sometimes he also wondered if he like an annoying younger brother, though.

"Anyway, let's get going. We need to make haste," Rylen said, turning and walking out the door.

Meanwhile, in the girls' room, Shiloh turned to Marionette. Though they had never really spoke much, Shiloh didn't have problems talking to people. "So, how do you feel about this mission?" she asked.

"While I wonder who could be behind something like this, I have no doubt that we will be able to take care of it," Marionette responded. "I also look forward to the merits that partaking in an S-class mission may bring."

"I think it could be an interesting mission," Shiloh said. "I'm actually really happy to have been trusted on something that is S-class."

"I do think it is quite flattering, though I do doubt I would be here if there were other females that Kai knew in the guild at that moment," Marionette said in a matter-of-face voice.

Shiloh sweat-dropped at this. "I think he probably has some faith in you, and Len probably does as well, otherwise he would have told Kai to find someone else."

"Who knows," was Marionette's response before exiting the room with Shiloh following.

The four griffins met up in the hall, and when they made it to the bottom of the stairs, they were stopped by Lord Eyren.

"Excuse me, griffins," he said, walking over to them with a long, folded piece of paper in his hands. He handed it over to Rylen and said, "This is a map. Some of our guards have been scouting for these crystals, and while we don't have the magic power to take them down, they marked them, including what color they were, so that it may aid you in finding them."

"Thank you," Rylen said with a small bow of his head. "This will help us a great deal," he added.

"We're headin' out," Kai added into the conversation with a grin and a wave.

"Um, you three go ahead. I need to talk to Lord Eyren for a moment," Rylen said, motioning for his teammates to leave, ignoring their questioning glances.

Kai led the two females outside and closed the door. "He's acting… Off today," he pointed out, stepping away from the door. Even with his words, he trusted Rylen enough not to eavesdrop on him.

Shiloh nodded in agreement.

After just a few moments, Rylen stepped out of the house with a small smile on his face. "Alright. We can head out."

* * *

><p>With the use of the map, it took the griffins a little over an hour to find the first marked crystal, which was a deep blue crystal that was situated behind a small waterfall of a small lake. It was a nice, lush scenery, being surrounded by trees, but the group was more focused on the crystal.<p>

"When will it start attacking us?" Shiloh asked, her hands on her key ring, her eyes on the crystal.

"We're a bit too far away," Rylen said, stepping forward. "I'm gonna 'port to it. You three get ready to fight." He dropped the map on the ground as he spoke, not wanting it to get wet.

"Gotcha," Kai said, giving him a thumbs up.

With that, Rylen stomped the ground, dark purple magic circle appearing under his feet. A black and purple portal appeared and Rylen fell into it. After he was completely in it, the portal closed and another circle appeared right in front of the waterfall. Rylen jumped from the circle, pulling out a long, purple axe that seemed to be made of the same matter as the portal. He slammed it into the waterfall and stuck the crystal, which instantly surged blue magic through him, causing him to wince and fall into the water.

"Get ready!" Kai warned, yanking the broadsword off his back, pulsing light magic through it and causing it to glow brightly.

Shiloh pulled a dark green key with a golden crown in the middle of it from her ring and held it out, twisting it. "Gate of the Goblin King: I open thee!" she called as a fiery red magic circle appeared and spun. There was the sound of crackling flames and faint screaming before a huge, dark green goblin with a wrinkly, wart covered face, huge ears and a bald head that was covered by a large golden crown. He was dressed in a simple red cape that embroidered with gems. He had a golden staff with a bright green gem on the end and he stamped the ground with it when he landed from the gate. The gate spun again, and horde of goblins flooded from it, various metal weapons in their hands. While the king stood at about 4'5'', the other goblins were all tiny, standing around 3'0'' or less.

"Damn," Kai commented, stepping away from the goblins, who were looking around for things to fight.

Marionette's eye twitched, but she didn't comment on the goblins, writing it off as one of the many strange events that accompanied being a mage.

Blue light shot from the crystal and the field and area above were bathed in a glow, temporarily blinding the mages. When the light began to fade, the field was covered in wispy, ethereal blue creatures, most of which were floating, though some of them took the form of serpents or otters. Pretty much any water-shape or creature that could be imagined.

The goblins wasted no time attacking, charging forward with cries of battle while the king rallied them. Shiloh, not wanting to be the only one around not fighting, pulled out two steel tonfas from her back and jumped forward, the outside of her forearm crashing into a couple of enemies as she destroyed them, feeling a bit of her magic being tugged away by the small explosion that erupted from the creatures.

Kai grinned and charged forward. "Light Magic: Sunflare Buster!" he cried as he swung his broadsword, which had begun to emit radiant light that was tinted with pale green, the color of his magic. He swung around with his blade, doing two full revolutions and taking out enemies with quickness. However, taking out that many enemies at once zapped his magic and he fell to one knee from the shock of losing a chunk of mana. He hadn't forgotten about this aspect of the creatures; he just knew that he needed to provide a distraction for Rylen.

Marionette didn't move from her spot, but instead held out one hand and said, "Light Magic: Lumière du Soleil!" Two wisps of pure white light formed around her hand and spun around for a second before shooting off in two different directions and piercing through an enemy a piece. After causing the enemies to burst, the wisps chained from enemy to enemy, taking out at least twenty of them before vanishing. A small gasp escaped Marionette's lips when she felt her mana plummet. She looked over and saw that the blue crystal seemed to be glowing even brighter than before.

Shiloh's eyes darted between her two teammates, who both seemed to be taking hits to their magic. She was about to question whether or not fighting them was even the best option when a water laser hit her in the stomach, sending her flying. She let out a small yelp of surprise and her feet skidded across the ground as she slid back. She eventually resulted in using her left tonfa to cleave the ground and slow herself down. She glanced down to see that her stomach was dark red with a small hint of yellows and purple, already starting to bruise.

Right as Kai finished his spin, he found himself caught in a giant bubble and circled by a lot of water sprites who seemed to be humming happily. The bubbled filled with water and he resulted in holding his breath as he was lifted into the air. He swung his sword, but when it collided with the walls of the bubble, nothing happened. _Damn. Bad spot… _He thought, his eyes narrowing. He wasn't sure what to do, but hoped that someone would notice him.

Marionette swiveled and dodged a charging beaver and shot it with a bullet of light after calling out, "Light Magic: Balle!" She grimaced at how weak she had become in such a small amount of time, but still looked around the battlefield. She observed that they didn't really seem to be thinning anything out, but her eyes stopped on Kai. "Fool," she huffed under her breath, before shooting another bullet from her hand and bursting the bubble. The water spirits instantly turned on her and rapid-fired bullets of water back her, screeching angrily. She was about to use one of her defensive spells, but one of Rylen's portals appeared in front of her, taking the bullets. After a moment, it fired the bullets back at the sprites, though they were now black and purple like his magic. The bullets and the sprites vanished on impact.

"Thanks, babe!' Kai called, getting back to his feet. His hair was now covering part of his forehead as it was wet. He was also dripping with water, but he didn't seem bothered by it. "You're awesome!"

"Naturally," Marionette practically purred under her breath, turning her attention back to the fighting at hand.

"We have to go… Our numbers are dwindling," the goblin king explained after grabbing Shiloh's wrist when she hadn't initiated combat.

"Oh, okay, thank you, Goblin King," Shiloh said with a small bow of her head. She looked around as the few goblins that were left vanished into puffs of smoke. She then pulled a key that was dark purple with a yellow-green dragon's eye in the middle of it and twisted it into the air. "Gate of the Witch: I open thee!" she called, jumping back to avoid a blast of water that was coming her way just as she summoned her new spirit.

A tall lady with flowing black hair and a black dress to match and bright green eyes, along with pale skin appeared, glaring at Shiloh, her black staff with a glass orb atop it held in both hands. "You called upon me, my servant?"

Shiloh returned her glare and placed a hand on her hip. "I need your help, Maleficent," she said.

"Oh… I am surprised that you called upon me instead of that dastardly murderer whom you call Cain," the witch purred, a prideful smirk on her face. "Very well," she added, turning around and zapping a bunch of water spirits with green lightning from the end of her staff.

Shiloh figured that the witch would hold her own, so she joined Kai in the close range fighting, while Marionette kept her distance for the most part, having now summoned a bow and arrow made of white light.

"Oi! Rylen!" Kai called from across the small lake. He couldn't really see his friend from beyond the waterfall, but he was sure he was still working. "Think you can give us an estimate?" he asked. He didn't have time to wait for an answer, as a large serpent lunged at him. "Light Magic: Sunflare Fist!" he barked, his free-hand glowing brightly as he landed an uppercut on the serpent's jaw. He didn't have to attack again, as it vanished when Shiloh struck it with both of her tonfa, landing in front of Kai with a small grimace of pain. She was over-exerting herself, what with having summoned two spirits already and having her magic constantly drained.

"It's almost done!" Rylen called back. He was standing inside the small cave with the waterfall and seeing the cracks form in the crystal, he knew he didn't have much left to do. He formed a portal in the middle of the field and called out, "Guys, if you can, I need you to shoot your magic into my void!"

"On it!" Kai responded. He then turned to the portal and placed his sword on his back, holding both palms forward. "Light Magic: Sunflare Beam!" With that, light blasted from both of his palms and into the portal.

"Maleficent!" Shiloh yelled.

"I'm on it, you don't need to yell!" Maleficent hissed at her, taking aim at the portal and firing a large bolt of lightning.

"Light Magic: Strike-through!" Marionette chanted, shooting her own blast of radiant light from her palm into the portal.

Shiloh watched Rylen as best as she could with dodging the enemies. The portal vanished and another one appeared over the gem, blasting out a bright purple beam of light and lightning at the gem. The gem cracked and then shattered and the place was once again bathed in blue light.

"And this could be bad," Kai said as the light faded. Most of the water in the lake at formed a condensed bubble in the air, which was being fed by the waterfall as well. All of the enemies around flooded into it as well and it then proceeded to fire four massive lasers of water at all four of the griffins.

Marionette made a dome of light around her to protect all but Rylen who was too far away, but she was doubtful of it. Kai pushed as much magic as he could into his sword and held it across the two females, standing his ground. Shiloh saw Maleficent vanish and she wondered if she had something to help, but knew that it was too late to open another gate.

However, they didn't have to worry as a void portal appeared behind them and Rylen wrapped his arms around all three of them, pulling them into the portal with him. There was only darkness inside the portal, but Rylen held his teammates close as he traveled, his body now an odd black and purple wisp.

Marionette, Kai and Shiloh could feel the void tug at their magic as well. It was lightless and empty, a chilling feeling as they traveled. Shiloh wanted to speak and ask Rylen how he handled this, but she found that no sound would come from her mouth.

In what seemed like thirty minutes or so-but really only a minute at most-, they fell from the portal and into an area that was about 20 feet from the lake and Rylen fell to his knees. He was soaked and his headband was around his neck. He was gripping his right arm tightly and breathing heavily.

"Bro, you okay?" Kai asked, crouching next to him. He felt weak as well, but he wasn't in pain, really.

Shiloh attempted to walk over to Rylen, but found that the ground felt weird under her feet and ended up falling to her knees and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

Marionette was close to Rylen already and she sat on the ground next to them. While her face remained calm, she felt weak. In fact, she hadn't felt as though she wouldn't be able to fight another fight in a long time.

"I'm… Fine…" Rylen breathed, dropping his hand to his lap and sighing. "It's really, really hard to bring people into the void like that, much less three people."

"You gonna be able to get yourself back to Yarrow?" Kai asked. "I can carry you, maybe."

Rylen smiled at the offer. "No, thanks," he responded. "I'll be able to walk, just give me a moment."

"Is your arm hurt?" Shiloh asked, placing a hand on Rylen's arm very gently. Both of the mages winced, as Shiloh was surprised at how cold his arm was, and Rylen was surprised by being touched. "So… Cold," she mumbled, slightly rolling his sleeve up, concerned as to what could make his arm so cold.

Rylen attempted to pull his sleeve down, but it too late.

"Ice?" Marionette arched a brow. She did not recall any of the enemies being ice. Only water. So how had his arm been frozen?

Rylen let out a small sigh. "It's not from the fight. It's a prosthetic made by Winter," he said, rolling his sleeve up and pulling his glove off, revealing what looked almost like an elbow-length gauntlet made of pale blue ice. There was a purple core that ran through it, extending to his fingers.

Kai's eyes dropped to the ground. He had found out about the prosthetic a while ago, and he had been told not to speak of it, so he didn't. He knew Rylen didn't like people knowing and he felt bad for this.

"Can you feel pain in it?" Shiloh asked, running her fingers gently across the smooth ice.

"Nah…" Rylen responded with a shake of his head. "Not directly. It's more of an itchy ghost pain that I get when overexert my magic." With that, he rolled down his sleeve and put his glove back on. He then pulled himself to his feet pulled his headband back onto his hand.

Shiloh continued to watch him with worried eyes, confident that he was probably too weak to start walking so soon, but not sure how to get it out of him.

Rylen looked down out of the corner of his eye and extended his hand down to Shiloh. Once she stood, he patted her on the head with his left hand. "Don't worry about me. I'm actually pretty resilient," he said, all signs of pain and weakness now void from his voice.

"I do believe that the map was left behind," Marionette pointed out, wanting to change the subject.

Rylen reached into his pocket and pulled out the map, which was slightly damp from being in his wet pants. "I've got it," he said with a small smile.

"Alright! We're back to moving!" Kai said with a huge grin, standing up. However, before they could move, one of Shiloh's magic circles opened without the use of a key and a towering man with slicked back black hair, a black and white three-piece suit, and narrowed crimson eyes stepped forward, two pale hands landing on Shiloh's shoulders.

"Miss! Are you okay?" the man asked in a frantic, but deep voice, his sharp fangs showing when he spoke. "I couldn't get through because he were so low on magic, and I found myself distraught!"

Shiloh's eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed. "I'm fine, Cain," she responded. "We just had a lot to take care of," she added.

Cain looked around at the three mages that were with her and then stepped back, bowing politely. "I am sorry for the disruption," he spoke in a formal tone.

"Not a problem," Rylen said with a slight twitch of his lips. "How are you?" he then asked. He had met Cain on a couple of occasions, as he was sometimes just with Shiloh.

"I am good, sir," Cain responded with a grin that showed off his intimidating sharp fangs. However, this didn't really seem to scare either of the light mages. He then turned back to Shiloh and grabbed her hand, planting a kiss on top of it. "Well, I bit you ado, Shiloh and friends," he said, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving Shiloh staring down at the ground with a slightly annoyed expression.

"Your spirits can summon themselves like Lucy?" Kai asked. He knew of Lucy from watching the Grand Magic Games on the TV lacrima and hearing news about Fairy Tail that spread throughout Fiore.

"Only Cain," Shiloh responded. "He worries about me, sometimes," she said, a sweat-drop appearing on her forehead.

* * *

><p>They made it back to Yarrow when the sun was setting and once they had entered Lord Eyren's house, which was empty, Rylen tapped Marionette and Shiloh on the shoulder, making them stop while Kai continued up the stairs. He placed a finger over his lips to tell them to speak quietly. "I need you two to distract Kai. Take him around the town or something…."<p>

Marionette's eyes twitched. "I'd prefer not," she instantly responded firmly, though her voice was low.

"Why?" Shiloh questioned.

"Today's his birthday," Rylen explained. "I got Lord Eyren to give us a few hours alone and I was going to make a cake and set up a present I got, but I'd prefer for him not to be in the house…" he voice faded. "I feel really bad about making him leave out on a harder mission like this during his birthday, instead of getting a day to relax, and he's one of the few people in the guild I'm actually close to, so I figured I'd attempt to show him."

"Sure," Shiloh said with a small smile. "Is this why you've made us do everything early?" she asked.

Rylen nodded.

"Fine," Marionette sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "As long as I don't have to be alone with him, I'm okay."

"Thank you both so much… I'll pay you back, somehow, I promise," Rylen said, bowing his head slightly, grinning at the two females. "I just need an hour."

Before they could agree to this, Kai came back down with a questioning look on his face. "Why is everyone still down here? I feel left out."

"Kai, Marionette and I are going to go check out some of the town. Wanna come?" Shiloh asked.

Kai flashed his signature smirk at her and continued the rest of the way down the stairs. "You decide that you like spending time with me, babe?" he asked, throwing an arm around Shiloh's shoulder.

"Sure, let's go with that," Shiloh responded, stepping away from him. She noticed that Rylen had already slipped into the hall and probably into the kitchen, so she nodded towards the door and the three left.

* * *

><p>After a bit of window-shopping and talking to some of the townsfolk that pointed out that they didn't look like they were from Yarrow, the three griffins returned.<p>

Rylen came out of the doorway and smiled. "Follow me," he said.

Kai arched a brow in confusion, while Marionette and Shiloh followed Rylen without a word.

He led them to the kitchen, which was a quaint yellow kitchen with a large round table in the middle of it. The table had eight chairs surrounding it, though this wasn't Rylen's doing. In the middle of the table, there was a small box wrapped in dark green wrapping paper with a bright green bow tied around it, along with a large, chocolate cake what was iced with chocolate icing and decorated with leaves and swirls that were mint flavored and sprinkled with mint and chocolate chips. It had "Happy Birthday" written across the top of it if it cursive writing.

"Even though they just had that huge sweets party at the guild, I thought I would try my hand at making a birthday cake for you," Rylen said, fiddling with headband nervously.

Kai blinked. "Who's….." his eyes then widened. "Today's the 27th?" he asked.

Rylen and Shiloh laughed while Marionette rolled her eyes, though one side of her lips did twitch with the faintest sign of amusement.

"Well, thanks, Rylen!" Kai said with a huge grin. "The cake looks delicious!" His eyes then landed on the present.

Rylen picked it up and handed it to him. "Go ahead and open it," he said, dropping it in Kai's hand.

Kai undid the bow and then opened the present to find a clear, forest shaped lacrima on the end of a silver chain. He held it up at eye level and then blinked, wondering what it was for. He opened his mouth to show gratitude, but Rylen spoke first.

"If you use a tiny bit of magic on it, something will happen," he said.

"Okay," Kai said, touching his finger to the lacrima. It instantly flashed and shot out a small beam of light at the table. Once the light had cleared, a small white squirrel with pale green eyes sat on the table, looking up at Kai.

"Master!" it chipped in a squeaky feminine voice, pouncing and landing on Kai's shoulder and rubbing her tiny head against his cheek, causing him to laugh.

"It's so cute," Shiloh commented, watching it curiously.

"Her name is Ari," Rylen explained. "She's a spirit squirrel who can be stored in the lacrima in case of danger, or just because, I guess. She's apparently good at scouting, according to the merchant I bought her from. She's been informed that whoever uses their magic to release her from the lacrima would be her master."

"Hey, Ari," Kai said, gently petting the squirrel. "I'm Kai," he said.

"Hi, Kai!" Ari responded, crawling all over him, her fluffy tail twitching as she did so. She appeared like a normal squirrel other than the color and faint glow of her eyes.

"Oh, thanks, Rylen!" Kai said, walking over and patting Rylen on the shoulder. "You rock for thinking of something like this, and remembering my birthday better than me!"

"Not a problem," Rylen said.

"We should cut the cake," Marionette pointed out, not bothering to hide her impatience. With that, everyone sat down at the table after Rylen cut and passed out the cake.

"How did you remember that I like mint chocolate, or was it a guess?" Kai asked after taking a bite out of the cake.

"We eat together a lot. It's not hard to remember things like that," Rylen said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "And I would have done something more for you, but Yarrow isn't much of a tourist destination and the nearest town isn't very near…"

"Oh, no, it's cool, man!" Kai said with a smirk.

With that, they continued to eat and exchange stories of various missions and training sessions; something that they all had in common and could agree with talking about.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>__This turned out longer than I expected. ^^; Anyway, I'm just gonna leave it here. I'm gonna do the mission with Kimi/Sayomi/Cantrelle/etc. next chapter and probably try to introduce at least two more characters. I planned to introduce someone this chapter, but never got around to it. I'll probably finish up this mission in a couple of chapters, as well. I probably won't have another chapter completed until after the tenth of December, but who knows. I got this one done a lot quicker than expected. Hope you enjoyed~_

_**Review Responses:**_

_**As always, thank you so much for the reviews! They mean a ton to me! Lots of love!**_

_-DarkHyena – I'm so happy you like my portrayal of Mercy and that you like the story! Hope the first glance at a mission didn't disappoint. :3_

_-La Maitresse' Dame – Yeah. I couldn't think of another way to describe Winter's joy so I just rolled with it. XD I'm happy to see people getting curious about Bandera's past, as he, like many of the characters, does harbor and interesting backstory._

_-Dragonspirit996 – I'm happy you understand. ^^;_

_-Dreadburner94 – I'm really happy that I got Niki right~ And I'm really surprised at the amount of love for Nekane, as she was totally spun off the top of my head as a last minute filler character. XD Glad you're liking the story so far!_

_-IdentityCrisis.03 – I'm so happy I did good with Daze's introduction. :3_

_-Cat the Alien – Eh… Sorry the flow is awkward. .; I think I'll get better when I get done with introductions. I'm going to try to introduce your characters next chapter, but that depends on how long the mission I'm going to write turns out being. I don't like my chapters going over 7k words because that's like, over 20 pages in word. :/ If not next chapter, then definitely the chapter after that._

_Reven228 – Crystal tends to do that. XD And I'm happy you've enjoyed the chapter so far._

_-JustanSpecialist – I'm really happy that I portrayed Ella okay~ And I'm glad I'm able to build up some suspense behind Bandera._

_-FrozenBlast13 – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter~ ^.^ I think the fight scenes and little background revealing scenes are going to become much more frequent now, so hopefully it will be enjoyable._

_-MyDearWatson – Nekane can read anyone that lets her touch them. That sounds creepy, but she'll probably show some awkward creepiness later on. And Bandera does hold some interesting character features. I'm not actually sure with pairings right now. There are some that I really like, but I'm kinda taking in reviews into account, as I'm sure some will voice their opinions later on, regarding pairings. :3_

_-Naofumi – You may get to see how he is next chapter~ And I'm glad it turned out to be intense. That's what I was aiming for. :3_

_-Nicky Azure – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. It also makes me happy that some my characters get some love. X3 And I lost my Pikachu and I was so sad. T_T_

_-Barrett M107 – Niki's magic is definitely awesome and I like her character type as well. :D I think I was sort of aiming for that for Ella. Like, a surprising. I'm really happy all of the characters are enjoyable~ :D_

_-lordsoftheroses – That's really flattering. Thank you. ^/^_

_-Vaerith – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter~_


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **_Heya, guys~ I had tons of fun with this chapter, so please enjoy it! It's really more of fluff more than anything, but I think it's amusing enough. _

_There is now a list of arcs for Silver Griffin on my profile. Feel free to chuck ideas at me for them! :D There are also some story progress stuff on there that may be of interest if you ever find yourself wondering when the next chapter to one of my works will come out._

_******Anyway, I need to ask a favor from you guys. There are some future story ideas on my profile and a poll to vote for which ones interest you. I really, really want to know so that I can know which one would be wanted the most. It won't start until after January, if I time, but I figured I'd go ahead and get the poll up! If you have a few moments to read some of my ideas and vote, it will be really appreciated! ******_

* * *

><p><strong>September 27<strong>**th****, morning**

"Aniiii!" Kimi sung out as she skipped over to female that had a similar body top as her, being tall with a thin, pretty much curve-less frame. However, the frame was pretty much where the similarities between the pink mage and the mage she was approaching ended.

This mage had striking facial features, with a sharp chin, slender nose and thin lips. The thin, dark brown brows that resided over her large, almond shaped brown eyes didn't match the mess of bright hair that was tied into a braided bun on each side of her head. Her eyes were lined with black makeup that made them stand out eve more against her fair skin, and her lips sparkled with just a small hint of gloss. She was dressed in a faux leather tank top and matching skinny jeans, along with silver-studded black suspenders, a feathery metallic gold jacket, black heeled boots and a thick copper chain necklace. The woman had just walked into the guild and arched a brow at the happy greeting of the mage.

"You definitely don't like pink, do you?" she asked with a small twitch of her thin lips, switching the studded blue box of a handbag from one shoulder to the other.

"Hm? I love pink," Kimi said, twirling around, a bit of pink fire dancing around her as she did so. "Anyyyyywwwway…. Annie, will you go on a mission with me and some others?"

"Who are the 'some others', and why do you want me of all people?" she asked. She was also wondering why Kimi had decided to start calling her Annie when her name was Anita, but she decided to not spam the pink mage with questions.

"Erm, Cellie, Trella and Mimi!" Kimi explained with another quick twirl on her toes, throwing her staff up like a baton and then catching it.

Anita thought for a moment, having to decipher the names that Kimi had given her since she thought it so fitting to call them by their nicknames when explaining who they were. "Does it pay well?" she eventually asked.

"If we do a good job," Kimi said. "And I promise, you're perfect for the role! We'll do an awesome job!"

Anita folded her arms over her chest and eventually said, "Fine." She knew that Kimi, while cheerful, wasn't a prankster. She genuinely thought that the mission suited her for whatever reason.

"YAY!" Kimi said, tackling her in a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome?" she responded, a drop of sweat forming on her forehead.

Kimi let go and then skipped over to the bar, where Sayomi, Cantrelle and Cecil were all waiting patiently. "We've got a team!" Kimi cheered.

"That's excellent!" Cecil responded, clapping her hands together and laughing lightly. She then turned to Bandera, who was quietly washing one of the counters, like he had been doing for the past hour. "Bandera… Are you sure you're okay… With being left?"

When he didn't answer her, she walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. He hadn't acted right since Winter had taken him out of the guild to meet with someone. He wouldn't speak of the person that he met with it or anything. In fact, he barely talked at all now. "Bandera…."

"Hm?" he looked up, his eyes void of their usual sparkle. "Oh, yeah, I'm cool," he said with a small wave of dismissal. "Enjoy your mission."

Kimi skipped behind the counter and wrapped her arms around Bandera. "You know, you can come with us, Bandie," she said in a cheerful voice. "I don't mind at all~"

"No, no thank you," he responded, gently pulling away from her, his eye twitching. He didn't feel like dealing with people anymore. Nekane's words had disturbed him; left him feeling empty. Winter had assured him many times that if someone was in emotional or magical turmoil, Nekane would figure what it was and heal them in seconds, but the girl had turned him away with tears in her eyes. Even more, she had stated that she was pretty sure the cause of his lack of magic was Lucie, which had made the little girl snap.

Kimi frowned and her brows furrowed. "Are you sure…?" she asked. "It's gonna be-"

"No, thank you," Bandera repeated in a firm voice.

"Oh, okay," Kimi's eyes dropped to the ground and she turned to the people that were waiting on her. "I guess we can head out, then."

* * *

><p>Once they were heading to the train station that was right outside of Nadeshiko, Kimi turned to Cecil. "Do you have any idea what is wrong with Bandie?"<p>

Cecil let out a small, sad sigh. "I'm not actually sure. He won't talk about it. A few days ago, Winter came to get him to take him to see someone about his magic, and he just hasn't really been the same since then."

"Oh, I wonder what happened," Kimi said, nervously twirling her staff around.

"Someone probably told him that he wasn't going to get a woman anytime soon," Anita said with a small laugh, attempting to ease up the situation some.

Kimi shrugged and then attempted change the situation. "I think this mission is going to be a lot of fun," she said, trying to change the subject.

"I wish you would tell us what the mission was," Sayomi said. She had been quiet for most of the time simply because she had nothing to say.

"You'll see as soon as we get off the train. We should be back at the guild by tomorrow morning. It's not a very hard mission, but the pay really depends on how we do~" Kimi explained.

"But, are you sure we can do good?" Cantrelle asked. "I… Can't use magic that well…" she admitted timidly.

"It'll be fine~ Trust me!" Kimi said, twirling forward so that she was walking backward as she talked to her group. "I've picked the best group in the entire guild~" she said with a cute wink.

As they walked, they passed a sign that informed them that it was a small train ride to Sunflower, and Anita made a small snort. "Sunflower, the village of Wealth, where we're oh-so-charming, dahling, and even the smallest of grains of dirt send shivers down our perfectly straightened spines," she said, making fun of the proper accent that many higher class women spoke with. She even made the motion of walking with the hymn of her imaginary dress held up and fanned herself if an invisible fan, batting her eyelashes.

This made all of the other four girls laugh, more at the way Anita moved than her actual joke. The woman continued to entertain them, making fun of various stereotypical personalities, moving around the three girls as she did so. She crossed extremely preppy females and those who tend to act like they are always in some sort of emotional turmoil, the type of females who were always quiet and acted like they were in pain and the type of females that were always feeling sorry for themselves.

* * *

><p>They made it to the train station and boarded the train to Sunflower, where Cecil, Kimi and Cantrelle sat facing Anita and Sayomi. Once the train started, Cecil seemed to stiffen up, her eyes darkening just a bit. While she remained with a smile on her face, once the train got rolling at a steady speed, her skin paled.<p>

"You don't look so good. Pretendin' to be a slayer or somethin'?" Anita asked with a small smirk. Cecil had informed people that she didn't have magic and was only working at Silver Griffin as a barmaid.

"I get motion-sick. I'm not really sure what it is," Cecil responded. "I'm not like a slayer, though. I'm not incapacitated. I could move if I need." As if something in the world needed to make her prove herself, the backpack that was now in her lap began to wiggle, and out popped a small, beige mole that tilted its head, seemed to be frightened and hopped down, running towards the door of the train, making a small peeping noise at it did so. "M-Mochi!" Cecil scolded. She was about to stand to try to get the small mole, but Cantrelle jumped up first.

"I'll get him, Ceci!" the small girl announced, running and grabbing the small, hand-sized mole, carrying it back over to the group of females. She then attempted to hand him back to Cecil, where the mole jumped and buried itself in Cecil's bosom, turning around to poke its head out of her cleavage.

"Now, if only we had drills, and giant robots," Anita commented with a large smirk across her face. None of the other females really seemed to get her references, which made her roll her eyes. They just didn't understand good jokes.

Cecil seemed to think for a moment, her head tilting to the side as she did so. She knew that talking about something would get her mind off of the fact that she felt slightly motion-sick, but she wasn't sure what. She then decided on something and smiled. "So… Are there any men at the guild that you are interested in?"

"I think I'm the only kid in the guild, and if I did like someone, Granny Winter would get really angry," Cantrelle responded. "Besides, I'm too young~" she added with a small giggle.

"Psh…Liking one of those losers?" Anita rolled her eyes. "And what are we, typical school girls?"

"Anyone…?" Kimi seemed to think for a moment. "You already know what type of men I like, and there is someone…And I'm working on making him fall for me… But he's never around!" She started her statement with a smile, but by the end of it, she was pouting.

"Really? Who is he?" Cecil asked, her eyes widening. She knew that Kimi liked quieter men, but she figured if the pinkette really liked someone in particular, she would have said something. At least something that was surprising to her had really succeeded in distracting her. She was running through her head the men in the guild that weren't around often, but really, that only ruled out Bandera. Pretty much all of the mages that she could think of off the top of her head would leave the guild the moment they saw a mission that interested them.

Kimi smiled brightly and just as she said the name to the man that she liked, the train made a screeching noise at it reached its first stop. While Cecil and Cantrelle heard, the other two women did not, not that Anita really cared anyway.

Once the train stopped and Kimi didn't move, Anita sat up, as she has begun propping against the window of the train. "We supposed to get off here?" she asked.

"Nope," Kimi responded. "There's a small stop after this, and that's where we're getting off~"

Once Anita heard that answer and Cecil started talking to Kimi again, she propped back up with small yawn. She wasn't one hundred percent sure why she had agreed to come along with the girls, but if the mission paid well, then it would be worth it.

"Why would you like him? I know he's quiet, but he also seems really disrespectful," Cecil asked, turning to Kimi. "He comes off really mean, too."

"I don't think anyone is really mean, just misunderstood," Kimi said with a small shake of her head. "I'm sure he has his reasons, and even with his friends, I bet he's really lonely."

"Have you told him?" Cantrelle asked.

"Not really. I like to give him hugs, though." Kimi said with another small giggle. "He doesn't push me away anymore, so I think it's a start~"

"I don't know how good of a start that is…" Cecil admitted with a small drop of sweat. Thinking back, she did realize that every time the man and his friends came in, Kimi would run and hug him and ask him how he was when she got the chance, and the man would usually respond with a word or two. Still, that didn't seem like much progress. Then again, what could she say? She hadn't really made much progress with even finding a love interest. So, instead, she turned to Sayomi. "What about you, Sayomi?"

Sayomi looked over at the girls and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really find anyone in the guild to be interesting in this way," she said in a matter-of-fact voice. "I don't really find myself wanting to focus on romance when my job requires me to constantly be traveling. It would be tedious."

"I don't think so," Kimi said in a cheerful voice. "I think it would be fun to go on missions with the guy you love, being able to protect each other and get to know each other a lot. And then we're you're not together, they say distance makes the heart grow fonder, so when they come back, you want to hug them even more!"

"I'm pretty sure your ideas of romance are more exaggerated than my acting," Anita pointed out in a dry, sarcastic tone.

"I think it's a sweet way of viewing love," Cecil responded. "Then again, I don't know what I expected out of someone like Kimi," she added with a gentle laugh.

The train came to another screeching halt in just a few more minutes and Kimi hopped up, twirling around and then skipping to the aisle of the train. "We're here! We're here!"

The girls followed the bouncy pinkette off of the train and questions filled all of their eyes when they realized where they were. They were in front of two huge, open wooden gates and beyond that, there were all sorts of stone or wooden buildings surrounding a giant stage that was in the middle. There were people bustling around and they didn't seem to pay much mind to the griffins.

"Kimi, would you mind telling me what kind of mission you have us doing?" Anita asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"We're gonna be actresses!" Kimi announced happily, bouncing in front of her teammates with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Are you serious?" Anita asked, her eye twitching. "I figured you thought my magic was suited for this mission. I'm not really the type to want spotlight… Definitely not acting spotlight."

Cecil blushed slightly as she asked, "Are you sure we're the best suited team for this?" she asked. She was thinking of people like Kai and Bandera, who almost seemed to sparkle with outgoingness, not that Bandera would have come, and Kai was gone, so maybe they were the best options.

Before anyone else could comment on the state of their team and the mission, a short man with an oblong face and dark purple hair with pigtails that resembled alien antennae walked up to them, eying them. "You're on time, thank you very much," he stated, adjusting his blue bowtie, which clashed against his bright red suit. "My actors… They have left me once again! Things at Selazade Theater Company were going so good, but there is only one more performance of this play! I thank you, very much for showing up!"

"Isn't Selazade Theatres based in Onibus?" Sayomi asked. She recalled the man, whose name was Rabian, being an announcer for some of the previous Grand Magic Games and he advertised for his theater business. So why were they in their own park north of Sunflower now?

"Oh, this is the second branch, thank you very much," Rabian said. "Anyway, follow me," he said. He then proceeded to lead the griffins to a large wooden cabin. "In you go, to get suited up, thank you very much." With that, he left them.

"Wait, we don't even get a few days to practice the script or anything?" Anita called out to him.

"Oh, no. I'm sure even amateurs like you can do just one play, thank you very much," he called back, before dashing off.

A tick mark of anger appeared on Anita's head, but when she saw the excited look on Kimi's face and the worried look of the other girls, she decided that through everything, anger was not something that they needed right now. So, she followed the girls into the log cabin, where they were greeted by a very sparkly man.

This man had bright golden hair and purple eyes that were adorned with golden eye shadow, along with a golden tuxedo and dark skin. "My name is Auren, and I will taking care of you-" he stopped and arched a brow. "Surely Sir Rabian informed the guild that we needed two magical men to play the parts, yes?"

Kimi frowned. "No… I have the mission right here!" she produced the flyer from the pocket of her tailcoat. The man snatched it and read over it.

"Oh, the pain of the stupidity…. The pain…" he said, holding his forearm against his forehead and swaying as if he may faint.

Anita snorted. "I think I could get along with this guy," she pointed out.

He stopped swaying and his eyes landed on Kimi and then on Anita. "Step forward, ladies," he said. When they did, a hand landed on each of their flat bosoms, where he groped for what was not there.

"Nevermind!" Anita growled, attempting to punch the man, who ducked away from it and then stepped back. Kimi just stared, her eyes dots, her face matching the color of her hair.

"Perfect!" he said, clapping his hands together.

"Oh no…" Anita groaned, her eyebrows furrowing as they jerked with anger.

"You two will play the men for this play. I'm sure I can make it work," he said, going over to the vanity dressers that lined the walls of the cabin and picking up scripts. He sorted through them and then turned to Kimi and Anita, eying them head to toe.

"Please stop," Anita said in a flat tone.

I… I agree…." Kimi chimed in in a sheepish voice.

"Okay, pinky, you will be the prince for this," he said, handing her a script. "Don't worry about following the script exactly. Just understand you're the prince," he told her when she began flipping through the script. "Which means you will be the thief in this play," he continued, handing another script to Anita.

He then turned to Cecil, Sayomi and Cantrelle. "You will be the messenger girl," he said, handing Cantrelle a script, "You will be the princess," he said, handing Cecil a script, "And you will the flower lady!" he finished, handing Sayomi a script.

"So… I'm supposed to be in love with who…?" Kimi asked. "It says at one point that I confess my love for the princess, but then it says that I admit I'm in love with the messenger…?" her eyes dropped to Cantrelle and she sweat-dropped.

"Ignore that," Auren said. "Rabian's plays are outrageous trainwrecks. I'm here to save this stupid company, and I say that in the end, you will fall in love with the flower girl!"

"So we hate each other?" Anita asked, waggling her thumb in between herself and Kimi.

"Yes," Auren responded.

"And I'm pretty much a helpless princess who falls in love with both men and then decide to-" Cecil's eyes were practically swirls as she tried to make sense of the script that she was given.

"And I just announce what is going on constantly?" Cantrelle asked.

"I'm… so…. Confused," Sayomi growled under her breath.

"This is a trainwreck of a play," Auren stated, putting emphasis on the word, "trainwreck." He then snatched the scripts from everyone. "You know what part you play. I'm gonna dress all of you for the parts you play, and then you're going to go onstage and save this company… Okay?"

"Erm…. Sounds like fun," Anita said in the most sarcastic tone that she could muster.

"How can you really expect us to just perform and make something out of nothing?" Sayomi asked, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice.

"Just do it… You guys have magic… These are going to be a bunch of common folk watching… I'm sure between the two princes, they can make a magic battle for the ages!"

"So, am I supposed to have magic?" Cecil asked.

"Nope," Auren responded, arching a brow but not questioning when he received a sigh of relief from Cecil. "Only the 'boys' and the flower girl have magic."

"Okay!" Kimi said, her cheery mood returning almost quicker than it had left. "I think I can do it," she said.

"Great!" Auren said with a rather feminine giggle. "Let's get you ladies dressed!"

* * *

><p>After about an hour in the cabin, the lady griffins were dressed in the appropriate attire. Cecil's hair pulled up into a partial bun, with ringlets surrounding her face, which was covered in sparkly makeup that included pink lip-gloss, glittery purple eyeshadow and black mascara. She was dressed in an elegant lavender ballroom gown that flared out at the hips, covering her feet, which were covered in purple high-heels. She had white lacy gloves that stopped at her elbow, and the sleeves of her dress met the gloves, poofing out to hide the curves of her shoulders. There was a lot ribbons and white lace on the dress and it had a square neck, showing some of her cleavage. She looked gorgeous, to say the least, but it was a bit hard for her to walk in such a long dress. Luckily, she had been informed that she wouldn't be doing a lot moving.<p>

Cantrelle was dressed in typical messenger boy clothing that were dark green and beige in color. She had on brown pants that stopped below the knees, white leggings with green and brown loafers, along with a brown and green pinstriped, long sleeved shirt under a brown button up vest and a brown messenger cap on top of her head. She had a large brown leather messenger bag hanging from her shoulder.

Sayomi was dressed in a simple, white sundress that flared below her bosom and covered her knees, along with brown leggings and white Mary-Jane-styled shoes. Her hair was held away from her face with a white bonnet that tied under her chin, and she had a brown woven basket of various flowers on her arm.

Kimi was dressed in white suit, with a pea-coat type, long sleeved tunic that made her shoulders look square, along with white pants, white dress shoes and white gloves. There was a rapier in a black sheath on her left hip, and she wore a long white cape with a golden crown pattern in the center of it. Her long pink hair had been straightened and fell down her back with a loose white band at the end of it to hold it in place. Her bangs were clipped to the sides of her face and she had makeup on that made her brows look thicker and a bit darker, along with making her cheeks and jaw look firmer and her lips look thinner and paler. Her nose was shaded in such a way that it looked pointed and not-doll like. Her eyes had on a dab of mascara in order to make the lashes look less pink. She looked more like a slightly feminine male than a girl and from far away, there was a low chance that someone would even think she was a female.

Anita was dressed in a simple black suit, with poofed black pants and black tabi-styled shoes that showed her toes. The bottom portion of her face was covered in a black mask that traveled up her neck. The shirt she wore was a long-sleeved black tunic with a v-neck and a dark red sash that tied around her mid-section. Under the v-neck, a fishnet shirt could be seen, and under that, part of her mask could be seen. She had on fish-neck fingerless gloves, and there was a pouch on her left thigh that held a bunch of shuriken. She had two small katana-styled blades that were in black sheathes, forming an X on her back and her hair was tied up in a bun on the top of her head. She had no makeup on.

"Hey, I think this is a ninja, not a thief," Anita pointed out. She had been pretty sure of this during getting dressed, but looking at herself in the mirror of the vanity, she was absolutely positive.

"It'll work," Auren responded. "Now… Names… Names…" he stared at the group of females, who were all toying with their clothing or hair in some way. "You are Prince Sapphire," he said to Kimi. "You are Princess Rose," he said to Cecil. "You will just be referred to as the Messenger, and you will be Annie the Flower Girl, and you will be Night the Thief," he said, pointing to each of the girls as he spoke.

Anita snorted and then burst out laughing. "Dude, those names are a joke!" she pointed out. She then made a typical ninja hand-sign, with two fingers under her chin, her body stiff. "I am Night, the Ninja-thief. I travel in the shadows and fall in love with frilly princesses, of the shadows. Because, shadows…. Did I mention, shadows…?"

This made the other girls laugh, though Auren glared at Anita. "The names are perfect. Now, go out there and perform. We're already starting ten minutes late!"

"Good luck, everyone!" Kimi said, giving all of her friends a "V for Victory" type of hand-sign and winking.

"Remember, you're a boy," Auren pointed out, his eyes narrowing at how high pitched and girly Kimi's voice was.

"Oh, right," Kimi said, clearing her throat. "Prince Sapphire wishes all of you the best of luck in your endeavors," she said in the deepest voice she could muster, bowing like a gentleman.

"Shadows…!" Anita hissed in mockingly deep voice, as if this was a legit response to Kimi. She made the pose of a ninja balancing on one foot with her arms out to the side, and this made the females laugh once more.

* * *

><p>The girls started the play with the Messenger coming in and announcing to Princess Rose that Prince Sapphire would be coming soon to greet her. Princess Rose then stated that she couldn't wait to meet the prince, as he was rumored to be the fairest prince in all of the land. The messenger then wished Princess Rose luck on meeting the prince and then left, pumping into Annie the flower lady as she made it to town. The flower lady stated that she wanted to at least get to look upon the fair prince's face once while he was in their fair kingdom of Shiko, and the messenger girl, while admitting that she wasn't supposed to say anything, told her where the prince would be arriving, all while Night listened to them from behind the shadows.<p>

The prince and princess met and went on a date, only to have the gazebo that they were meeting under collapse after the princess walked out. The prince emerged unharmed, but wondered why such a sturdy structure could have collapsed. After they exited the stage, Night came out and monologue dramatically of how he was in love with the princess and he would be sure that no one other than himself would have her. They then cut away to Annie talking to the messenger about how she was pretty sure the face of the prince had stolen her heart, although, halfway through the sentence she began to blush furiously and couldn't finish it.

Now, Prince Sapphire and Night were on stage, with Princess Rose in between them with a distraught look on her face. It was uncertain as to how Prince Sapphire and Night had found out about each other, but the prince had his rapier drawn and Night had his dual swords drawn, and they were glaring at each other.

"Thief-ninja, how dare you try to take the Princess' heart! You shall atone for your sins!" Prince Sapphire called out, thrusting his rapier into the air.

"The shadows are on my side… You shall not defeat me," Night hissed. With that, he darted forward and swung his blades at the prince, who attempted to dodge, but let out a rather feminine squeal as he was hit in the side by the second blade. "My bad…" Anita-Night whispered quietly enough that the audience couldn't hear. She hadn't thought to check if the weapons she wielded were real, as she assumed everything in theater was fake.

"No problem," Kimi-Prince Sapphire responded, also in a low voice. She could see the blood staining her clothing. This would have to be the last scene since she had been informed when getting dressed that they had no more outfits of the same type that would fit her, so they needed to make it count. "En guarde, fool!" the prince barked, thrusting his sword forward and missing completely. Kimi had no idea how to wield a rapier, and she was pretty sure she wasn't even holding it right.

"Oh, you missed. The shadows are not on your side, dear prince," Night said, stepping back and then throwing a shuriken. She realized that Kimi didn't have the finesse to dodge it, so she shot her hand forward and used her magic to pull it in an arc so that it went completely around Kimi.

"Oh, contraire!" Prince Sapphire said, dropping his sword. Kimi had decided that there was no way she was going to put on a convincing show with it. She held out her hand and a pink circle appeared in front of her palm as she shot a stream of pink fire at Night, smiling when the audience seemed to gasp.

"Oh-ho, I didn't know the prince was a wizard!" Night said, jumping above the flames. "Too bad that I too, am a wizard!" With that, he threw his blades in the air and they floated there for a moment before being hurled at ridiculous speed towards Prince Sapphire. Anita was used to sparring with the more skilled mages of the guild when she sparred, so while she was trying to go easy, it wasn't working very well.

However, Prince Sapphire created a ball of fire in his hands and chucked it at the swords, causing a pink explosion in the air as they burst. He then threw his hands into the sky and pink balls of fire began to rain down upon Night, some of them exploding on impact with the stage.

Night dodged this fire and made a lifting motion with his hand, causing Prince Sapphire to flying into the air, where he floated there.

"You think your gravity-or lack thereof-is enough to stop me?" Prince Sapphire called. He then created a ball of fire in each of his hands and chucked them at Night one at a time.

Night managed to dodge the first ball of fire, but the second one hit him in the chest, much to his surprise, causing him to stumble back. He made a falling motion with his hands and Prince Sapphire came crashing to the ground, letting out a cry of pain as the stage gave way and he ended up in a pile of rubble.

"Please stop the fighting!" Princess Rose screamed. The entire time, she had been in the back-middle of the stage, sobbing uncontrollably during the fight. Now that they had both been injured, she figured it was time for her to end the play.

"Princess…." Prince Sapphire mumbled, pulling himself from the rubble. He was now dusty and all of his left side had been stained red from blood.

"Never… The shadows call that your heart shall be mine, dearest Rose!" Night snapped. With that, he performed another lifting motion with his hands, and all of the shuriken that were in his pouch floated up, forming one very sharp blob of metal. He then hurled it at Prince Sapphire, planning to use his magic more to make sure it didn't actually hit him.

"Don't kill him!" the voice of Annie was heard off-stage. She then ran forward in front of Prince Sapphire and both of her arms began pale blue shields, which she slammed together in order to make a round shield that the ball of shuriken bounced off of.

"Who are you, Miss?" Prince Sapphire asked, his eyes wide.

"My name is Annie, and I-I-I…." Her voice faded and her face turned bright pink and she shivered, her arms turning back to normal.

"She loves ya, sir!" the messenger came running on stage with a huge grin.

"I'm just a flower g-girl… So… I d-" Annie didn't get to finish her sentence as Prince Sapphire tilted her head up and kissed her on the lips, making the audience go wild. He held the kiss a moment before pulling back and smiling.

"Annie… You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen… I do hope my feelings have gotten across to you," Prince Sapphire said, caressing Annie's cheek gently, while everyone else on-stage stared with dot-eyes.

Annie-Sayomi just stared up at Kimi-Prince Sapphire with huge eyes and a solid red face. How was Kimi able to do this so seamlessly? And did they just kiss? She was so confused at that moment, and embarrassed. It was just acting, but to go so far….

"Well, the shadows are never wrong, Rose… You belong with me," Night said, sneaking over to Princess Rose, who was still staring at the scene.

"Oh… Night… You know, I don't think I ever had much of a thing for princes," Princess Rose said, turning to Night with a bright smile. "Shall we disappear into the shadows…?" she asked, mocking the hissy voice that he used when talking about shadows.

"Yes… My dear," Night said, taking her hand as they walked to the edge of the stage. When the crowd started applauding, everyone bowed and the curtain was drawn.

* * *

><p>"Woo-hoo!" Kimi jumped out of cabin. All of the girls were now in their old clothing and all were smiling, except for Sayomi, who blushed when Kimi landed next to her. They were paid really, really well for their performance, as it earned the theater a lot of donations on top of people buying more tickets in hope for more good plays, though the griffins had turned down the opportunity to act again anytime soon.<p>

"You were right, Kimi," Anita said with a huge grin. "It did pay well!"

"All of you were so awesome, just like I thought," Kimi said, sprinting so that she was walking in front of her teammates as they headed for the train station. The sun was setting, but they would definitely make it back to Nadeshiko in plenty of time before nightfall.

"You know, did you two really kiss?" Cecil asked. She had been behind them, and it was hard to tell, but she was pretty sure with the way Sayomi was acting, that it was a yes.

"Yep," Kimi said with a small laugh. "It's acting, though. Don't actresses have to do more than just kissing, too, sometimes?"

"I never thought you to be the type to take acting so seriously," Sayomi pointed out in a tiny voice.

"I was a stage magician when I was younger. I adore being on stage," Kimi said, twirling around. She then noticed that Sayomi seemed tense. "I'm really, really sorry if I upset you, Mimi!"

"Oh, no, it's okay," Sayomi said, still in a tiny voice.

"Well, anyway… I was wondering if anyone wanted to come back to my house tonight?" Kimi asked. "I've got something super-special planned if you'll come with me, Mimi!"

"I'm pretty sure she's not gonna want to come with you when you say it like that after surprise kissing her," Anita pointed out.

None of the girls had time to respond to Anita's remark as a small, curvy woman with dark brown that fell to the middle of her shoulders came running up to Anita and hugged her tightly. This woman was quite a bit shorter than Anita, but she had the similar, sharp facial features and the same eye color as her.

"V.V.?" Anita asked with a small smile.

"Anita! What on earth are you doing here?" the woman asked, stepping back.

"We were doing a mission. I thought you were in Onibus?" Anita asked, stepping back as well.

"Oh, I live there, but I came here for a couple of weeks to help with things," the woman explained. "Mind introducing me to your team? Are they guild mates?"

"Yes, and," Anita turned to the team. "This is Vivien, my little sister."

All of the griffin girls introduced themselves to the woman.

"They seem surprisingly pleasant," Vivien said with a bright smile.

Anita glared at her. "Yeah, well, I think we need to catch the train," she said, looking as the train rolled in. It wasn't that she minded her sister, necessarily. It was more of that she knew where the conversation was about to head, and she didn't feel like hearing it.

"Okay, bye~" Vivien waved as the females made their way to the train. "You should really contact Jules if you're hanging with such a pleasant group now!" she called once they were far enough away that Anita couldn't punch her.

Anita gritted her teeth and walked onto the train, happy when the other women didn't seem to question who Jules was.

* * *

><p>When they got back to Nadeshiko, Anita parted ways with the others, and Kimi led Sayomi, Cecil and Cantrelle to her apartment, which was near the southern edge of Nadeshiko on the fourth floor of a complex. The apartment was a single room, save for the bathroom which was behind a door, and it was very… Pink. The walls were beige with pink rose trimming, the carpet was soft and pink in color, the closet and low table were made out of pinkish-red wood, and all of the pots and pans in the kitchen were various shades of pink. Her bed was an extra-long twin-sized and covered by a pastel pink blanket with a cupcake pattern and her pillows were either white and fluffy or pink cupcake-shaped. There was a board on the wall with the door that had clippings and mementos from missions that she had done. There was a white-wood nightstand beside her bed that had a pink-framed picture of a younger Kimi with an older girl with dark pink hair, a red haired man and a pale pink haired woman.<p>

The table in the middle of the floor was surrounded by a four pink pillows and there was a huge blue cake in the middle of the table that had "Happy Birthday, Mimi!" written on it with blueberries.

"Welcome, welcome!" Kimi said cheerfully, stepping aside to unzip her boots with the tiny zippers that were in the back and then take them off. The other girls removed their shoes as well.

Sayomi scanned the room, having never seen Kimi's apartment before, and her eyes stopped on the cake and she blushed. "How did you know it was my birthday?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"Hehe, I have my ways~" Kimi said cheerfully. "Anyway, we got you a present, too," she said, skipping over to the closet, opening it and pulling out a flat box that was wrapped in electric blue wrapping paper with a dark blue bow.

"You… Didn't have to…" Sayomi said, taking the present sheepishly.

"We wanted to~" Cantrelle said, grinning up at Sayomi.

"Yep. That's what friends are for," Cecil said.

Sayomi blushed brightly and opened the present, which contained an electric blue cardigan-styled jacket with a small hood. It had dark blue buttons and the ends of the sleeves and lining of the pockets were dark blue. It was really soft. She stared at it for a moment and then removed her cloak, slipping into the cardigan, which fit nicely. "It's really pretty, you three…" she said, starting down at it. "Thank you!"

"I know you seem to like blue, and we were out and saw this, and I thought it suited you," Cecil said with a grin. "It should fit under your cloak, too, and it's thin, so it shouldn't be too hot~"

"Thank you all," Sayomi responded, blushing brightly and turning to hug the three girls. "This is all really thoughtful."

"Hehe… Glad you like it," Kimi said. "And I know we just had lots of sweets, but I made another cake, because cakes and birthdays go together."

"Thank you!" Sayomi said, sitting at the table with the other girls.

"We've also got lots of stuff to practice cooking with and we'll take it to the guild tomorrow," Cantrelle said.

"Yep. We've got an entire night planned, including blankets and a sleepover," Cecil said with a huge grin.

Sayomi smiled at this. She felt so welcomed, even more so than when she had joined the guild. It was a new feeling, knowing that she had friends in the girls that sat around her. She felt like she might cry, but she fought the tears, not wanting to seem childish, and began to eat the cake that had been made for her, thinking about how much of a good day she had had.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>__I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter~ It was so, so much fun to write! :D I thought about revealing who Kimi's love interest is, but then decided against it, so I censored it. XD Sorry. ^.^ I do wonder how many KimixSayomi shippers that little scene spawned, though. XD Anyway, please check out my poll if you have time! It would be really, really, appreciated. _

_Also, the next chapter will introduce at least two more characters and give some more story on Bandera. There may be more if it's not long enough by that point, but that's the plan so far. And then back to Rylen and company's mission in the chapter after that. Expect the next chapter at the end of next week~_

_**Credits:**_

_-Anita Job and Vivien Job belong to Cat the Alien, though Vivien is a side-character._

_-Rabian is a canon character._

_-Auren is my character, and also a side character. ((To note, side characters, like clients are usually gonna be my characters unless stated otherwise.))_

_**Review Responses: **_

_**As always, thank you soooooo much for the reviews and support! I am grateful, yo! Lot's of love! :D**_

_Baren – You changed your username! ^.^ Anyway, I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! This showed some magic, even though it wasn't real action. XD_

_DragonSpirit996 – Sure~ She'll probably appear later in the fic, though~ :3_

_La Maitresse' Dame – I think I addressed everything in your review via PM, no? And if not, feel free to say something in your next review or PM me. :D_

_JustanSpecialist – Yeah. If I get time, I write really fast! I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! :D_

_Puffypuffin3 – I find that Shiloh's magic is really interesting as well. I plan to develop the spirits more as I go along. I try not to throw everything that a mage can do in the first fight scene with them. :3 Lol. I've never really heard of the friendship thing like that. XD They do have some of the strongest past together, of all the folks in the guild. :3_

_Guest – What Cain is a reference to will become more clear in the future chapters. If it doesn't, feel free to ask again later down the line. XD I'm really happy to see some ships being supported. It helps me in development things. C:_

_FairyTailWolf6 – I'm really happy you like the chapter. Yeah, I'm not too good with gifts, so I figured I would go off of the character's likes/dislikes for gift things with birthdays. Yeah. It will be rare for me to update during the day. I'm such a night owl and if I am awake during the day, it's 'cuz I've been up all night. XD_

_Barrett M107 – Thanks~ I love writing battle scenes. :3 Backstory will be revealed in time. C: I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter and I think the overall theme for Shiloh's keys are dark myth creatures. That's the best way to describe, I think. XD_

_DarkHyena – All characters will have missions soon enough~ I just have to think of everything. XD Anyway, glad you like the chapter. :D_

_StingIsNotHere – Sorry about that. .; A restart really needed to happen, though, I think. Anyway, I'm really flattered that you like my writing style. :D And I'm sure you can continue your fic! I wish you luck!_

_MyDearWatson – I'm really, really happy that I did a good job with Shiloh's magic and her spirits. I was a bit worried with the take on Maleficent I did, but as usual, I just rolled with what came to mind. ^^; I'm really happy that the mission has you interested, and after next chapter, you'll get to see more of it, though I won't show every crystal, as I promise it would get repetitive. O.O; _

_LightAndDarkHeart – I'm really happy to see that you enjoyed the chapter. Hopefully, this chapter was fairly enjoyable as well. :P_

_reven228 – I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter. I always try to stay ahead of schedule, but try to expect the worst as well. ^^;_

_Death Obelisk – Really happy that you liked the first mission. I will do a lot of missions now, and hopefully they won't disappoint. :D_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's Note: **__Hi, guys~ I made it through finals and failed my first class ever. X_X Anyway, that's out of the way and there's nothing I can do about it. And I have three things to announce, the first one which does pertain to Silver Griffin, so please read it, if not all of them._

_**ANNOUNCEMENT 1:**__ I want to start an omake thing at the end of the chapter to help me explore the personalities of the characters more! So, I've decided that there will be two Omake series that will appear at the end of chapters every so often. The first is going to be History Lessons from Winter and some of the guild members, with Winter and some guild members talking to you guys. The second is the one that involves you guys. I want to do a Q&A with the characters! You can ask any question to any character that has been introduced, even your own character to test my ability to write them. The characters will respond to the questions as they would if they were asked the question in the story. There is one rule, though. I won't give major spoilers through questions, such as most character history and such. You can ask pretty much anything you want via PM or review and if the characters have questions to answer, they'll answer them in the next chapter. Ask as many questions as you want to the characters. :D_

_**ANNOUNCEMENT 2:**__ There is a new poll on my profile. It's not as much reading and I would like votes. It's in regards to another fic I'll be starting soon and more details on that are in the second announcement. If one of the ideas get a huge amount of votes and the things in announcement two don't happen, I will write the idea out myself. So, if you're interested in any of the ideas, vote! :3_

_**ANNOUNCEMENT 3:**__ I have made a collaboration account and the link it on my profile. My fiancé and I will soon be starting a collab SYOC Fairy Tail thing, and if you wanna read the rules on my collab profile and send an OC to that account, feel free to. Just know that it may take a while for the fic to actually become a thing. It may not even be a thing until Summer._

_Anyway, enjoy the chapter~ _

* * *

><p><strong>October 1<strong>**st****, X791, around 10 am. **

"Still not feeling well, are you, Bandera?" the man who had been sitting at the bar for a good twenty minutes asked, his large, light brown eyes following Bandera, who had been cleaning the same few spots over and over again, as he had been doing for the past few days. The man at the counter was a tall, thin, man, standing at 6'3'' with light brown skin. His darker brown hair was held in a bun on the back of his head, though one lock of hair framed his chin on each side. He was dressed casually in a yellow and blue flannel shirt under an unzipped, pale red jacket that was left open, along with khaki-like pants and black high-top sneakers. A silver pocket knife that had the name "Samson" engraved on it hung from his neck. With strong, square features, he looked mature, though the fact that his eyes were so puppy-like gave him an innocent appeal.

The male had waited until Cecil had tucked away into the kitchen for something before he spoke, and Bandera stopped cleaning the moment he heard the words. The man, Tad, was one of his friends in the guild. Though he used magic, he had a very down-to-earth appeal to him and didn't seem to have an air of magic to him, at least not to Bandera, so it made Bandera feel… Not as alone. "Nah… I can't… I can't get anything off of my mind."

"You should just forget that airheaded brat," Lucie snarled, folding her arms across her chest in a pouting manner. She was tired of Bandera's grumpiness and tired of hearing about the green-haired witch that had informed Bandera that she was his problem.

"Then why don't you go talk to her again?" Tad asked. "I'm sure she'll see you if you tell her you'll listen."

"I…I don't know…" Bandera mumbled under his breath. "She told me she couldn't help me."

"Just try again… What could it hurt?" Tad asked.

"Would you come with me in case she gets mad?" Bandera asked. While Nekane didn't seem like the type of woman to just get angry with people, she could just be acting that way because Winter was around, and Winter seemed to know her. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to do anything about her if she decided to be violent with her magic.

"Sure," Tad responded.

Bandera's eyes went to the kitchen door, where Cecil still hadn't emerged. He wondered if he should tell her that he was leaving, but he really didn't feel like the questions. Besides, now was the best time, as Winter and Crystal were in the office and Cantrelle was playing outside. No one to question where he was going. "Let's go… I guess."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you're going to go talk to her again," Lucie huffed once they were outside of Nadeshiko. They had walked in silence, as Bandera was still not in good mood.<p>

Bandera placed a finger on his lip and then his eyes widened, realizing the mistake that he had made. Tad didn't know about Lucie, but Nekane could see Lucie. Maybe he wouldn't think he was crazy, though, if someone else could see her. Maybe it was the best way for someone to find out about Lucie. Anyway, he had to do this. He had to get some sort of closure and he was pretty sure Nekane was the only one who could do this for him.

"Is that little cottage the one we're going to?" Tad asked when he saw it off in the distance. He wasn't really bothered by the silence and was more or less just glad that by the end of the day, there would be a chance that Bandera would be back to himself.

"Yeah," Bandera responded.

"Someone lives there?" Tad asked. He had been to the train station that was a few minutes' walk away from the cottage and had seen it a few times, but it always seemed so lifeless. And the plants around it never looked healthy.

"Yeah," Bandera responded, just as flat as the first response. They walked up to the cabin, and after a small sigh, Bandera knocked on the door.

The curtains of the windows could be seen rustling and then after a few moments, Nekane opened the door. "Erm… Hi, Mr. Bandera," she said in a tiny voice, her eyes dropping to the ground. "Why are you visiting?"

"I want you to explain to me why you think Lucie is the cause of my magic not being active," Bandera said in a slightly demanding tone, his eyes falling to the ground as well. He couldn't look at her; she looked too sad and he felt like it was his doing.

"Who's Lucie?" Tad asked, a confused look on his face.

"Erm…" Damn. That was the only thing that came to Bandera's mind, as he had no idea how to explain Lucie. He was somehow hoping that Nekane would do all of that.

"She's a demon spirit child that has attached to Mr. Bandera," Nekane explained, surprising Bandera. "Mr. Bandera probably doesn't tell anyone about her because the only ones that can see her are me and him."

"Really?" Tad asked, his eyes widening in surprise. He then looked to Bandera, as if trying to see Lucie. "Hi, Lucie, I'm Tad!" He then turned to Nekane. "And you are?"

"God, he's like a man-child," Lucie huffed, turning her head away from the three people, her eyes focused on the river.

"I'm Nekane Relias," Nekane said with a bright smile, grabbing Tad's hands. "I read auras, and yours is really warm, too, almost like Mr. Bandera's was before he got angry with me."

"Warm auras?" Tad asked, tilting his head to the side. "Is that like your magic or something?"

"Yep," Nekane said, letting go of his hands. "And I've already told you why I feel that Lucie is the cause of your problems," she said, turning to Bandera with a pouty face. "However… I have researched it some since I met you, and I don't know what kind of demon she is. I thought she was just feeding off of your magic to sustain herself, but it could be that she's a projection of your magic, or maybe that she lives off of some kind of seal that's been placed on your magic."

"So… How do you tell?" Bandera asked.

"I don't know…" Nekane mumbled. She then turned back to Tad. "Mr. Tad, do you use magic?"

"Uh, yeah. I use Water Manipulation!" Tad said, snapped from his thoughts. He had been pondering everything that Nekane had said and was trying to deduce if he had heard of any sorts of demons like Lucie. He wanted to help Bandera, too, if he could. Now, though, he held up his hand and it turned to water, making Nekane's huge eyes widen like a child in awe.

"Ooooh…." She breathed, grabbing at his hand, surprised when her own tiny hand went through it, becoming drenched. She then stepped back. "I want you two to fight!" she demanded like a child, once again, pointing to Bandera and Tad.

"What?" Bandera asked. "I don't have magic, though."

"I know. That's the point," Nekane said. "Magic tends to manifest itself during dire times, and if you get scared, maybe your magic will come to you. Maybe it will break the seal on its own."

"I'm not sure I'll even be scared with fighting a friend," Bandera said, a sweat-drop appearing as he looked to Tad, who also looked uncertain of Nekane's words.

"Fine!" Nekane said. She then held her hands against Tad's chest. "Anger!" she shouted, as the marble on her necklace turned crimson and a dark red magic circle appeared on Tad's chest. Once he stepped back, staring at the circle, the veins on his forehead swelling, a white circle appeared in front of Nekane's hand as she called "Direct!" and shot a small light at Bandera.

Without control of his emotions, Tad turned on Bandera, both of his arms turning into tentacles of water as he absorbed water from the river that was right beside Nekane's house. The water circled around him as a stream and then all at one, he threw his arms forward and blasted Bandera, sending him flying. "What did you do to me?" Tad growled, glaring at Nekane. He didn't want to be so angry, so hateful, especially towards a friend, but just in an instance he wanted to destroy Bandera. He wasn't even like this when fighting. He knew how to keep his cool.

"Direct!" Nekane shouted again, blasting Bandera with another ray of light. Tad had a strong mentality, and she hated that he was able to break free so easily. She needed them to fight. She could feel herself burning through her magic, but at that instance, it didn't matter to her.

Tad danced forward and shot Bandera, who tried unsuccessfully to dodge, with another blast of water, sending him into the air. Tad then somersaulted forward and punched into the air, another jet of water shooting Bandera in the back, making him cry out in pain as he landed on the ground, soaked.

"'What the hell is wrong with you, you green haired devil?!" Lucie snarled at Nekane, who was watching the battle with her hands tucked behind her back.

"Ouch…" Bandera breathed, climbing to his feet. "I don't think this is fair…"

"Stop it, please!" Tad growled at Nekane.

"Fine," Nekane sighed. She then snapped her fingers and the magic circle on Tad's chest vanished, and his eyelids fluttered as he instantly calmed. "This isn't going to work, so I'm going to be your opponent," she said with a small groan, stepping in front of Bandera.

"You can fight?" Bandera asked, his brows furrowing.

"Let me take over… I'll destroy her!" Lucie hissed, hopping over to Bandera's side.

"No," Bandera responded firmly.

Nekane grabbed the marble on her neck and it burst into white light, forming an ethereal short bow in Nekane's hands. It was white in color, but seemed to reflect light like prism. She raised the bow to the sky and fired in which streams of white light rained down upon Bandera.

He jumped out of the way of the first few beams, but cried out in pain as he was knocked to the ground by three of them, which seemed to burst on impact, causing his body to press against the cold earth. "Oww….".

"I want you to try to hit me," Nekane said in a firm voice. She was tired of trying so hard with him with no results.

"But… You're a girl, and probably a younger girl at that," Bandera pointed out, pulling himself to his feet. His back was now charred and he would have to replace his vest before going back to work.

Nekane's voice lowered. "I'm nineteen, I have you know, and I really want to help you, but if you don't listen to me, I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Bandera." She hated being mean. This was not her style at all, but she needed results more than anything.

Bandera could hear the distress in her voice and he rubbed the back his neck and then charged forward, throwing a punch at Nekane, who jumped behind him and kneed him in the back, pushing him away from her and causing him to fall again. Still. No. Results.

He groaned, as she had kicked the part of his back that was already injured from the arrows and Tad's water magic. "Are you at least getting some sort of result?" he asked, his forehead pressed to the ground.

"This doesn't seem nice," Tad pointed out, wanting to help Bandera up, but not wanting to interfere with him getting better.

Nekane let her bow vanish and it returned to a colorful marble on her chest. She then frowned. "I don't know… Your magic isn't even reacting, it seems, even though you're really hurt now…"

"So you're hurting him for nothing?" Lucie snapped.

"No… I mean. I wanted to see… And I haven't come to any reasonable conclusions yet," Nekane said, stepping away from the glaring little girl, who was approaching her.

"You know, I don't think you know what you're doing at all," Lucie continued in a harsh tone. "I think you're just trying to play around with Bandera to amuse yourself or something… You just want him to turn on me, don't you?!"

"N-no!" Nekane started, holding her hands up in defense. "I really want to help Mr. Bandera, and I don't want him to hate you… I can feel that you two are really close, and I don't know how that feels, but I know that losing that sort of connection would be painful."

"Yeah, whatever, you act all cute and innocent, but you're just some lonely brat who wants to be a child and play all the time, aren't you?"

"No! I promise that's not it! I really do! If you give me time, I promise I will come up with a solution for you and Mr. Bandera!"

Tad couldn't hear or see Lucie, but the scene was making him cringe as he watched Nekane's eyes fill with tears as she hugged herself, sniffling and arguing with her. He looked to Bandera to see that he had stood and was about to speak.

"Lucie!" he snapped. "Leave her alone!"

"NO! I won't do it, Bandera! She's tricking us! She's a witch! An enemy!" Lucie growled. She then dashed to Bandera and in an instant, he gasped as she possessed him, his hair fading to blond and his eyes turning bright green. "I will destroy you!"

Nekane's eyes widened and she jumped just as Bandera, now much faster and stronger, swung a fist at her. She pushed her palms forward and called out "Void". A white magic circle appeared on Bandera's chest, but only for a second before it shattered and Nekane winced. "Cancelling… She cancels it…" she mumbled. She then shot her hands forward again and called out, "Mesmerize!" as a yellow green circle appeared on Bandera and instantly shattered. She screamed as Bandera punched her hard in the face and sent her flying. She managed to grasp the ground and skid to a stop just as her feet touched the cool water of the river.

"What's going on?" Tad called out.

"Lucie possessed him!" Nekane responded, rolling and jumping to her feet just as Bandera tried to kick her in the face. Her face had swollen to where her right eye was shut now and tears streamed from both eyes. She didn't like fighting. Not serious fighting. "Can you…" she stopped speaking as she was punched in the chest and then kneed in the stomach. She coughed up blood and then doubled over, falling to the ground. "Restrain him…?"

Tad began to move his arms in such a way that he was molding a bubble in the air. Water from the river and the moisture in the air converged to form a large sphere, which he then threw at Bandera after jumping forward. However, as soon as it got near him, the magic shattered into magical dust, just as Nekane's had. "Tch," his eyes narrowed. He wasn't expecting that. Doing the only thing he knew to do, he charged and grabbed Bandera under the arms, lifting him up to restrain him.

"Let me go, you oversized dolt!" Bandera growled in a high-pitched voice. He struggled and eventually freed himself, elbowing Tad in the nose and busting his face up as he fell, landing on top of Nekane and rolling her over.

"PLEASE, STOP!" Nekane pleaded, unsuccessfully shielding her face from another punch that landed right in the bruised area, surging pain through her entire head. After that, there was a surprising silence, though. Nekane opened the only eye that would open and saw Bandera as he passed out, Lucie appearing beside him, glaring.

"Hmph!" she stuck her nose up to her. "Now, maybe you will leave him alone."

Instead, Nekane ignored her and crawled over to Bandera, shaking him. He was unconscious and his aura wasn't present. "Mister… Bandera?" she mumbled, tears in her eyes again. She was fearful for a moment, but when she felt a faint aura, she breathed a sigh of relief. She then stood, weakly, and attempted to pick him up, with no success.

"I'll help," Tad said, using a bubble of water on the end of his hand to wash his face, which was covered in blood from his nose. Once he had cleaned himself, he lifted Bandera up bridal style and Nekane led them into the cottage.

"Set him on the bed," she said, closing the door in Lucie's face, even though she knew it probably wouldn't help much. She then sprinted over to the kitchen and used pieces of cloth to make up two icepacks, handing one to Tad and placing one on the swelling on her face, which made her look deformed. The bruise on her chest was visible and she could feel the bruise on her stomach. She hated fighting. It was the sole reason she refused to join a guild. There were always some sorts of fight to be had.

Once Tad had sat the unconscious Bandera down, he took the icepack. "Thanks," he said, placing it on his nose, which had started to swell and bruise as well.

"Do you wish to stay here with Mr. Bandera?" Nekane asked, plopping down on the table, her eyes on Bandera, worry sparkling in them.

"May I?" Tad asked.

"Of course!" Nekane responded cheerfully, hopping up and going back over to the little kitchen. "I'm gonna make some tea," she said. She then opened one of the cabinets in the kitchen, which was mostly stacked with tiny boxes. "Do you have any preference? I got pretty much anything that may be sold in south Fiore."

"Erm… Mint, I guess," Tad responded in a small voice. He could see that she was probably not lying, as every little box seemed to be a different kind of tea. He was also surprised by her rapid change of emotions, but didn't question it.

"Okay!" she said, quickly fixing up a random kettle of tea and then walking over to the table. "Have a seat."

Tad sunk down at the table. "What is Lucie like?" he asked after a moment of hesitation. He felt angry that she had hurt everyone in the house. She seemed mean, but who was he to judge what he couldn't see or hear?

"She's a little girl demon," Nekane responded, crossing one leg over the other. "She's attached to Bandera and she's really harsh… Erm… Like… If you've ever seen those little movies on the vision lacrima where they have the little aristocrat girl who never learned manners and comes off as really demanding?"

"Probably," Tad responded.

"Yeah, I think that's the best way to describe her, but she's not mean," she said sincerely. "She was Mr. Bandera's only friend for a really long time and she cares really deeply for him… She's like his voice of reason, and his strength, in a way…"

"So, even though she pretty much wants you dead, you don't hate her?" Tad asked.

"Nope. We shouldn't hate people. It makes our auras all nasty and black," she said, shaking her head. "I don't hate anyone in the world, and I won't."

"Oh… I could see why you would think that way," Tad responded with a small smile that caused him to wince because of the pain in his upper lip. "How did you meet Winter?" he asked, deciding to change the subject. He knew that Winter had originally introduced Bandera and Nekane.

"Don't remember. In the market, maybe," she responded with a shrug of her shoulders. She knew what question was coming next as she saw his aura sparkle with thought. "I'm not a griffin because I know I'll start hating people. If I make friends, I'll hate those who hurt my friends, and then my aura won't be pretty anymore."

"Aren't you lonely?"

"Nope. I see people, all the time. I get to watch the griffins train in the field beside my house sometimes, and people come to me often to read them or remedy them from emotional distress." With that, the pot erupted in a sharp whistle and she skipped over to the kitchen, which was only about three skips, really, and began to prepare the tea.

"I think being in a guild would be better, and make your aura nicer because you would be surrounded by friends and happiness," Tad said, watching as she sat a cup in front of him.

"Maybe," Nekane responded. "I dunno."

* * *

><p>The two talked for a couple of hours about magic, fishing, traveling and emotions. With the two both being the naive and kind, it sounded almost as if they were two children talking about imaginary adventures in magical places that they had had recently. They only stopped talking when Bandera rolled over and opened his eyes, his hand going to his head as he grumbled.<p>

"Where… Am I?" he asked. He then sat up and groaned in pain, falling back. "Oww…."

"You're at my house, Mr. Bandera," Nekane said, hopping over to the bed and landing on her knees in front of him, making him blush at the lack of distance between them.

"Where's Lucie?" he asked, looking around, his eyes shining with just a bit of concern.

"I think she's outside… I doubt she can get far from you," Nekane responded.

His eyes then landed on Nekane's face. "What happened?" he asked. He then looked around and noticed that Tad was there, and also bruised. "Seriously?"

"Lucie possessed you and fought us," Nekane said with a nervous laughter. "It's okay, though, because I found out what kind of demon she is."

"Really? That's great," Bandera said, lifting himself up on one elbow with a smile on his face.

"She cancels the flow of magic," Nekane explained. "When she possessed you, neither Tad nor I could use magic on you. It's really surprising that people can still use magic at all around you."

"Do you know how to make it stop?" Bandera asked.

"No," Nekane responded. When Bandera's eyes dropped, she grabbed one of his hands, pulsing light aura through him to cheer him up. "But I plan to find out, Mr. Bandera. I'm gonna join Silver Griffin temporarily and we're gonna go on a mission together!"

"What?" Tad and Bandera spoke in unison, exchanging quick glances.

"I thought you just said you weren't going to join Silver Griffin?" Tad asked.

"I did and I won't become a permanent mage," Nekane said, dropping Bandera's hand. "But if Bandera can assemble a team, and I can travel with them one day, I can possibly get some research done on the matter of demons and see him fight again, or maybe even see his magic break through Lucie's magic. And then I'll go back to my cottage and return to my normal life!"

"O-kay," Bandera sat up slowly, wincing at the pain in his back. "Are you sure something like that is going to work?"

"I can't say that I am," Nekane said. She then leaned closer to him. "But someone like you has too much of a warm aura. I'm determined to bring it back! It's my job!"

"Erm…" Bandera's face lit up with blush as he fought his eyes not to drop to her cleavage, which was quite close to his face at that moment. He decided to focus on the fact that there was a huge bruise covering most of her left collarbone and he felt bad, knowing that he had probably caused that.

Nekane didn't seem to notice as she hopped up and jumped over to Tad, grabbing his hands. "Maybe you can be the start of our team, Mr. Tad?"

"Sure!" Tad responded, not as fazed by the grabbing of hands as Bandera. "If it's to help a friend, I'm game! I can help pick out an easy mission and gather up some teammates, too!"

"Yay!" Nekane cheered, wrapping her arms around Tad for a second before running over to the door. She was about to open it when someone knocked loudly on the door, making her jump with surprise and then open it after a moment of hesitation.

"He is here!" Winter exclaimed, peering past Nekane to the bed. Her eyes then shot back to Nekane and then to Tad. "What in the devil happened?!"

"We had a training session, Ms. Winter," Nekane responded with a huge grin. She then hugged Winter and hung from her neck like a child as she asked, "Ms. Winter, you always tell me you owe me, so would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Of course, dearest," Winter said, brushing a few strands for green hair from Nekane's face and frowning at the bruise on her eye. It had shrank a lot since the fight, but it was still dark and the white of her eye was blood red.

"Can I join Silver Griffin as a temporary mage?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

Winter's eyes widened and she placed a hand on her heart. "My…? What made you change your mind? I've asked you countless times to work for me…" Her eyes then shot to Bandera and Tad. "Is it possible that one of my sweet griffin boys have stolen your heart?" She punctuated her sentence with a chuckle.

While Bandera blushed, Tad seemed completely oblivious to the hint.

"Oh, no," Nekane said, stepping back. "But I want to help Mr. Bandera get better. I know he's going to be an amazing mage for you, and I won't stop until he's better."

Winter patted Nekane on the head. "You two will make beautiful children," she commented, causing Bandera to let out a snort of embarrassment and Nekane's eyes to turn to dots.

"Wait, you two are having a child?" Tad asked, not getting anything that was going on in the room.

Bandera's eyes turned to dots as well, and he opened his mouth, but as he was highly mortified, his words got caught in his throat.

"N-no!" Nekane responded, sweat-dropping like mad, her mouth long and straight, her eyes still dots.

Winter seemed to be having a ball with this, as she was laughing loudly. After a moment, she calmed down and wiped tears from her eyes. "Anway, dearest. Of course you can join Silver Griffin for as long as you like. Though I'm sure my griffins will make sure a sweet girl like you doesn't leave."

"I don't plan to get close to anyone," Nekane insisted with a small pout.

"I think it's already too late for that, isn't it?" Winter asked, her eyes once again on Bandera and Tad.

"No!" Nekane responded firmly. "I just wanna help…" she mumbled in a tiny voice.

"I'm sure you can only lie to yourself so long. I don't even have your magic and I can see there's more there than just that," Winter said.

Nekane just pouted for a moment until Winter started to walk away. She began to follow her and when she came outside, she saw Lucie sitting against the house, sulking. She stopped and after a moment of thought, she crouched. "Miss Lucie, I'm really sorry about everything… I shouldn't have been so… Accusing."

Lucie glared at her and then stuck her nose up to her.

"I'm gonna help Mr. Bandera get his magic back and I'll make sure you're not hurt in the process, okay?"

"Yeah, sure you are," Lucie hissed in a bitter tone.

"Lucie!" Bandera snapped, hobbling his way outside. His entire body ached, though his back was the worst of it.

"Don't get that tone with me!" Lucie growled. "You know she's bad news! You can't trust her!"

"She's just trying to help, Lucie!" Bandera retorted. "At least she doesn't go around possessing people and making them pummel their friends!"

"To be fair, she did make me angry enough at you to fight you," Tad pointed out, not reading the situation well, as he couldn't see Lucie.

"See?!" Lucie snarled.

"Please, don't fight!" Nekane insisted, grabbing Bandera's arm as her body emitted a pale blue glow.

While the magic shattered when it neared Lucie-having no effect, a feeling of calm washed over Bandera. It was an odd feeling, being forced to be calm, but he couldn't help but to feel like he wanted the aura to stay.

Tad and Winter could also feel the aura, though it was weaker since she wasn't touching them and she was further away from them. Both found themselves walking closer to Nekane.

After a moment, she stopped her magic and stared up at Bandera to make sure that he was calm. She then stepped away with a small smile on her face. "Good…" she breathed. She then turned to Lucie and crouched. "I know you don't like me, and I understand. My magic is really mean at times… But please, give me one chance to help Bandera… One mission… And if you still feel as though I'm not on your side, then I'll never, ever talk to either of you again." She didn't plan on talking to Bandera much anyway after her mission with him, but that was not part of the point she was trying to make.

"Fine," Lucie huffed, turning her nose up to everyone. "Only because this dolt's not going to start acting right until you tell him you're done for good."

* * *

><p>The rest of the walk to Nadeshiko was fairly normal, with some talk between Nekane and Winter and then Tad and Bandera, just idle chat, really. Winter showed Nekane to the guild and gave her a guild mark, which was a white mark on her right collarbone. There weren't many people in the guild, so Nekane resulted to sitting at the bar with Tad, Bandera and Cecil, warming up to Cecil, who also produced a warm aura, almost instantly.<p>

Winter watched the scene with a small smile on her face before turning to leave the guild hall.

"Where are you going, Ms. Winter?" Cecil asked. She didn't see the elderly lady leave the guild all that often, especially when she got new guild members.

"Just for a walk, sweet dear," Winter responded, glancing over her shoulder before walking out of the guild hall.

* * *

><p>Winter hobbled her way through the busy streets of Nadeshiko, avoiding the people as they rushed to the market for dinner ingredients or home from their day jobs. It was early evening, and this was the time that Nadeshiko was the most crowded. On the days that she wasn't too sore to do anything, Winter liked to take walks, just in case she stumbled across a lost soul that needed a place to stay. Today, while she was feeling a bit weak from walking all the way out to Nekane's cottage, she felt as though she would find something if she walked.<p>

And maybe her intuition was strong, because as she approached the edge of the town, she stumbled across a café known as the Starlit Patio, and she saw the owner, a middle-aged man with pepper hair, sharp eyes and a white and black suit, requesting that another man leave the patio, as he was unsightly and couldn't just loiter in his restaurant.

Winter's pale eyes landed on the man that the owner was talking to.

He was a taller man, probably standing close to six feet with a lean, yet slightly malnourished body, and he was dressed in ragged clothing that looked like it may have once been a lighter color. His feet and hands were wrapped in tattered bandages and his body was covered in what looked to be a mix of dirt and blood. His purple hair was messy, matted and unwashed, and on top of it, there was a small, brown flying squirrel. Through it all, there was a broad smile across his square jaw and he nodded and started to leave the outdoor restaurant when he was told to.

Winter walked up to him, making it so that the man instantly bumped into her when he was away from the restaurant. She noticed the scars that marred his pale skin, the most noticeable being the one that came from the back of his neck down to left collarbone and the one that circled his right arm below the elbow. There was also a small scar that led into his hairline, but Winter couldn't see the shape it too well.

The man's almond shaped, pale lavender eyes met Winter's when he bumped into her, and though he continued to smile, he didn't apologize.

"My, dearest, you look beat," Winter pointed out, not taking much note of his lack of manners. "What brings you to Nadeshiko in such a shape?"

"I don't know," the man answered honestly. "I found Momo," he then added, pointing to the flying squirrel on his head, who made a small chittering noise.

"Do you have a place to stay? Someone to dress you wounds?" Winter asked.

"No," the man responded.

Winter's eyes then landed on the dogtags that hung loosely from his neck and she grabbed them, flipping them over and squinting. "Vancha, D-27," she read. "So, do you go by Vancha?"

"Yep."

"Well, why don't you come back to my guild and I'll get you cleaned up and dress your wounds?" Winter asked.

Vancha seemed to be confused by her words, but after a moment, his eyes flashed with memory. "Did you say 'guild'?"

"Why, yes, I did," she responded, a sparkle starting in her eyes. "I run a mage's guild called Silver Griffin. It's a home for the weary like you, my dear."

"Can I join?" he asked.

"Yes, you may… Now follow me," Winter responded. She could feel that he had magic, and he seemed nice enough. Of course, she knew what the dogtags probably meant, but she was sure he had his reasons. She could feel that even though he acted fine, he was probably tired, and he didn't look like the type to have any money on him to afford a place to stay. That was what Silver Griffin was for. She would give him loving arms that no one else may even think about. "My name is Winter, by the way."

"Okay, Grandma Winter," he responded, following at her heels as he walked. He had heard people in the town calling older people "Grandma" or "Grandpa" so he decided that he should probably do that, too.

"What type of magic do you use, sweetie?" Winter asked.

"I fight, and I get stronger from it," Vancha responded bluntly.

Winter gave him a questioning look, wondering what he meant by that. "Can you tell me what that means?"

"I like fighting. If I get hit, I fight more," he said.

"That sounds dangerous," Winter pointed out.

"Does it?" he asked, sincere questioning in his voice.

Winter nodded solemnly. Crystal was really going to kill her for bringing this one to the guild. She couldn't wait.

After that, they fell into a comfortable silence and when they were less than a block from the guild, until Vancha pointed something out.

"The guy in front of us collapsed," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Winter had been deep in thought as to what sort of arguments would be used against Crystal when they started fighting about bringing more people with questionable magic into the guild and hadn't noticed the man in front of them, barely moving along the street. She snapped out of thought and looked around until she noticed a man on the ground. "Oh, my!"

The man on the ground had black hair that, like Vancha's, was fairly matted and messy, though it had a spikier texture than Vancha's. He was the same height-probably, but looked like he would be a bit buffer than him. He was wearing a turquoise jacket over solid black clothing, along with a black backpack. His face couldn't be seen, but Winter was ever-so-slightly wary, as she could see the two narrow sheaths at his side.

Winter walked over and poked him with the tip of her cane. When he groaned in pain, she breathed a sigh of relief. Could it be? Three guild members in one day? Would that be a record since her generation had passed on? She felt so excited. "Can you walk, dearest?"

"Hungry… So hungry…" The male mumbled, rolling over onto his back and wincing. He had tan skin and bright turquoise eyes with dark lashes framing them. The bottom portion of his face was covered with a black ninja-style mask.

"Get up, you buffoon!" Winter nudged him again with her cane. She couldn't tell if he was really that hungry or just the moocher type, but she was going to go with the latter until proven otherwise. Then again, he did collapse, so maybe she was taking the wrong attitude.

The man groaned and pulled himself to his feet, stumbling forward and almost falling on Winter, though he caught himself on the wall to a building. Now that he was standing, Winter could see his ribs under his shirt. He was malnourished like Vancha. "Do you think you can help him walk, Vancha?"

"Sure," Vancha responded. He then walked over to the man and picked him up bridal style, making his eyes widen.

"What the heck!?" the man snapped, taken aback by how easily he was lifted by a man that looked so beat up.

"That works," Winter said with a small chuckle. "Anyway. I'm going to take you to Silver Griffin, young man. What is your name?"

"Vaerith Quicksilver," he responded. "And what's Silver Griffin, granny?"

"It's a mage's guild," Winter responded. "You don't have to stay after you've rested... But you could return the favor of an old woman who will be sharing her food with you…" She was going for the third member; it was going to be her lucky day. A little manipulation never hurt if it meant getting three new members in one day.

"How do you even know I use magic?" Vaerith asked. He didn't necessarily mind joining a guild and he did use magic, but wasn't the old lady being a bit hasty?

"I can tell," Winter responded. She then started walking and Vancha fell in line with her. "And I take that as a 'yes'?" she added, smirking to herself.

"Maybe?" Vaerith responded. He hadn't even seen the guild yet, so how should he know?

* * *

><p>When they walked into the guild, the eyes of the four people who were left at the guild widened at the state of the two men that she had brought home with her. Crystal had joined the ranks of the guild hall and rolled her eyes.<p>

"I see someone went to clean the streets again today," Crystal hissed.

"Meet Vancha and Vaerith, everyone!" Winter announced, ignoring Crystal completely.

All of the guild members-apart from Crystal- introduced themselves cheerfully and Vancha and Vaerith responded with small greetings.

"Anyway, I'm going to let them use our shower and if you don't mind, Cecil and Bandera, can you two start cooking something for them?" Winter asked.

"Yes, Ms. Winter," both of the workers of the guild responded, vanishing into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Winter disappeared upstairs for a bit and when she came back down, both of the new members of the guild were clean, and Vancha had been bandaged up.<p>

Vancha was now dressed in a gray tank-top and purple cargo pants, and his hands and feet had been rewrapped. His hair was damp, but it was still a bit messy. Momo was now on his shoulder. The clothing had been given to him by Winter, who explained that they were some older clothing of some of the other griffins.

Vaerith was temporarily dressed in a turquoise pajama set, as his clothes were all being washed. His hair was mostly dry and spiky all around.

Crystal gave the men a small glare and then vanished into the office with a small huff.

There was one table set with a good amount of various foods and once Winter told the boys that they could eat what they wanted, they both sat down and began to eat quickly, it being fairly obvious that neither of them had had a full meal in a while.

"Were you expecting to meet these two, Ms. Winter?" Cecil asked.

Winter walked over and debated on sitting on the barstool, but realized that her back probably wouldn't allow it, so she resulted in sitting at the table with the two new guild members. "I did not plan on meeting them, but they will be staying in some of the extra dorms, at least for the night."

"Are they gonna join the guild?" Nekane asked. She could see that they had magic. Whilst their magic made their auras look a bit dark, both seemed fairly warm. And they were mages that were rescued by Winter, probably, so that meant that she probably talked them into joining, right? Winter always seemed to try to talk the mages she met into joining.

"Vancha is," Winter asked. "And I'm sure Vaerith will come to a positive decision."

"If I can get food like this every day, I'm in!" Vaerith said, grinning. Most of the food that Cecil and Bandera had cooked was gone, and Bandera was in the process of cleaning up the table. However, the turquoise eyed man looked around. His eyes first landed on the mission board, where there were only a couple of missions left, and then on the rest of the guild. "Is it really this empty, though?"

"No… We have upwards of around twenty or so members, at least," Winter responded. "They all do their own thing, and eight of them are doing very important things right now…" her voice trailed off at the last part of her sentence.

"Eight?" Cecil asked. "You decided to send Vesta's team, too?" She remembered the guild master talking to her granddaughter about having a bad feeling about Rylen's team's mission and asking if the hoodlum team could go help them if the time came. That was a few days ago, though.

"I sent them out this morning," Winter replied solemnly. She then turned back to Vancha and Vaerith. Vancha was just smiling goofily while Vaerith was watching the conversation with interest. Neither of them seemed that concerned with it.

"Speaking of missions, didn't you want to do one with Bandera, Nekane?" Tad asked. He had been mostly listening to the conversation up until that point, not having much to put in on it.

Nekane turned to him and smiled. "I think we need more than just you, Mr. Tad, not to sound mean. I can't fight that well and neither can Mr. Bandera."

"I can fight," Vancha pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm up for a good fight, too," Vaerith chimed in.

"Then why don't we pick something?" Tad asked, hopping up and going over to the mission board. That was two more mages. A team of five should be enough for the mission, he thought.

Winter stopped him by standing up, wincing at the pain in her back. "I've actually got something that I would like you five to do, as request by me." All of the good things were happening to her today. It must be a day of extreme luck.

"Oh?" Tad turned around, question in his eyes.

"It may not be much of a mission and it may not get you any pay, though," Winter added, rubbing her back. She then walked over to the office and disappeared inside, soon coming back out with a handwritten piece of paper. She handed it to Bandera as she sat down.

Bandera took it and read it aloud for his team to here. "This is a mission from Winter. I need you all to investigate the mountains without being seen by any of your fellow Griffins. I feel as though you need to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and report to your fellow Griffins only if you find legitimate activity."

"Who was this intended for?" Tad asked. He had walked over and realized it was a handwritten letter.

"It was intended for the hoodlums that my granddaughter runs with, but at the last second, I decided to tell them to go help Rylen's team instead of avoiding them, as I feel that they need it," Winter explained.

Before anyone else could respond, the door to the office burst open, causing Cecil to jump with a small squeal of surprise and Nekane to hop back, her eyes widened.

"Are you really about to be so stupid as to send three new mages and someone who can't even use magic on a mission that could possibly determine the lives of many of our strongest mages?" Crystal growled, brushing past Cecil and over to Winter. "Do you even know what type of magic these two men use?"

"No, but I'm sure that they can help. I feel that they are both very strong," Winter retorted, glaring back at Crystal.

"Whatever," Crystal rolled her eyes. She then turned to Vaerith and Vancha. "Rise!" she barked.

Vancha did as told, still smiling, and Vaerith looked to everyone in the guild, who all seemed a bit nervous before rising as well.

"Don't listen to her," Winter demanded, causing Vancha to instantly sit back down and Vaerith to become confused. "Go back to your room, sister. I know what I'm doing. You don't. Making them demonstrate their magic and pray their loyalty to the royal bitch of the guild will do nothing for any of us."

"Fine," Crystal huffed. "I hope you cry when all of your little precious mages that you have out in the mountains are killed. Including your granddaughter!" With that, she stormed off upstairs, leaving an awkward silence in the guild.

"So… Irritating," Tad grumbled, seeing tears forming in Winter's eyes. He wanted to say something so much. In fact, he opened his mouth to say something, but Crystal was already gone. The old lady could move, unlike Winter.

"What just happened?" Vaerith asked.

"You met the other guild master," Cecil said in a soft voice. She had walked over to Winter and was rubbing her back, as was Nekane. "And Ms. Winter, I'm sure the teams in the mountains are going to be fine. They're all really strong."

"And I'm sure we can do this mission," Nekane added. "I can feel that these two aren't really bad people, and I bet they can be really strong, too."

"Damn straight," Vaerith said with a grin. "Leave it to me if we get into any fights."

"I enjoy fighting," Vancha stated.

"That woman really is insufferable," Lucie pointed out to Bandera, her eyes still on the staircase.

Bandera nodded his head slowly. He was glad that they had been entrusted with such a mission, and he was nervous, but excited. "When will we leave?" he asked. His eyes then went to the window, where it was night outside. His back was also still extremely sore, and the swelling on Tad's and Nekane's injuries didn't seem much better.

"You all should wait until tomorrow morning," Winter said, sniffling. "Vancha and Vaerith need at least a night to rest." She then wiped her eyes and straightened up a bit, having recovered a bit from Crystal's words.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>__Hope you enjoyed that chapter. I had tons of fun writing it and I love the characters that were introduced. Anyway, the next chapter of something I post will probably be Naiad Drop, and I wanted to introduce at least one more character this chapter, but I'm not going to push 10k words minus the author notes on you guys. So, that will be at the beginning of next chapter, and if the chapter doesn't turn out too long, I'll start showing some more of Rylen and co's mission._

_Also, I know some characters haven't appeared for a while while some have had multiple appearances. All characters will get their chance to shine. If not in this arc, definitely in the next one. This arc is going to be short, so don't fret! _

_**CREDITS:**_

_-Vancha – Barrett M107_

_-Vaerith Quicksilver – Vaerith_

_-Tad Moore – Cat the Alien_

_**Review Responses: **_

_As always, lots of love for reviewers! Thank you so much for taking your time to review! __3_

_FanO'theNinja121 – I'm really happy that you've enjoyed the chapters! I was really worried about the way you would react to the kiss, but I'm glad you found it amusing. _

_MyDearWatson – It was a really fun chapter. I try to make it more canon-like by including missions that aren't all fighting, but they are harder to think of than fighting missions for me. And Anita is quite fun to write. :3_

_La Maitresse' Dame – I really, really don't like doing long time skips and I figured it would be easier for me to follow my calendar if I keep the date at the top. Also easier for people to keep track of stuff. I have the probably slightly unrealistic goal of never skipping more than two months during this series. Too much could happen in two months, you know? And Kimi aims to confuse people, heh. XD She has nicknames for pretty much everyone she interacts with and I'll try to make sure it's explained who she is referring to. And thank you~ It doesn't take me long to write, if I can keep my mind on it. XP_

_Cat the Alien – I'm really happy my writing has improved. I try to constantly be improving in some way. Sorry about the grammar. I'm a bit lazy with editing sometimes. I always read over and make changes, but I'm not super meticulous with it. Sorry I made Anita a bit snarkier. That's the way I imagined her. X_X _

_Baren – I actually did this a lot in the last version of Silver Griffin. One of my goals in the reboot is to show almost every character, if not every character, interacting together in some way. And I'm happy you like the way I handle OCs. I love working with the characters of others._

_LightAndDarkHeart – I'm happy you enjoyed the mission. I wanted to do a theater mission and figured why not just make it the canon theater company, at least to an extent…_

_DarkHyena – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! :3_

_FrozenBlast13 – No problem~ Bugs happen sometimes. X_X I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter. And it's my goal to spawn all the shippers of various pairings. I had a problem in the last one with pairings being a bit too obvious, but I don't want that to be the case this time. _

_Puffypuffin3 – I try really hard with my pacing. And if you feel spoiled, you really will be by the end of December, as I'm on a full break now! XD With the S-class arc, I plan to make it and the arc before it interchangeable, as I know some people may prefer to see it first. When I get near the end of the next arc, which will be the arc I use to introduce most magics and stuff that haven't been introduced, I will start a poll and see which people prefer more. I'm looking forward to the S-class exams and I have them fully planned out, but I don't want people to be confused by characters and not know who characters are and stuff for it._

_Origm2012 – I'm really happy that you enjoyed it. :3_

_DragonSpirit996 - :3_

_Barrett M107 – Yeah. I kind of lightly based it off of that because I'm terribad at coming up with missions that aren't either fighting related or character-history related. X_X But I want it to be more canon like, which means missions that aren't those types. Whilst Fame is a really good guess that I can't say if it's correct or not, Rylen is not supposed to come off as mean. XD Yeah, I wanted to show magic, but didn't imagine it getting too out of hand with a the personalities of the girls. _

_Death Obelisk – I'm soooo happy you caught the Gurren Lagann reference! XD I break the fourth wall sometimes. It's fun. :3_

_Reven228 – Hehe. Glad you enjoyed the chapter~ :D_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note: **Hey, guys~ Enjoy this chapter. There is still a poll on my profile that I want votes on~_

_**GUYS! I'M GONNA DO OMAKES AT THE ENDS OF THE CHAPTER AND THEY ARE GOING TO BE Q&A WITH THE CHARACTERS. ASK ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT TO ANY CHARACTER THAT HAS APPEARED, BUT I WON'T GIVE SPOILERS. ASK VIA REVIEW OR PM. YOU MAY ASK YOUR OWN CHARACTER SOMETHING IF YOU WANT. IF I DON'T GET QUESTIONS, I'LL BE DOING HISTORY LESSON OMAKES INSTEAD.**_

_*****IF YOU GUYS LIKE SYOC FAIRY TAIL STORIES, YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT MY "FAVORITES". SOME OF THEM STILL NEED OC'S AND THEY'RE AWESOME, THOUGH I MUST ADMIT I'M NOT CAUGHT UP ON SOME OF THE LONG ONES SO I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU PROPER TL:DR IF YOU WANT IT. ^^;******_

* * *

><p><strong>October 3<strong>**rd****, X791, midday**

The Silver Griffin guild hall was fairly noisy once again, a few mages having returned from various missions.

Gwen, Penny, Henri and Mercy all sat around one table with a bowl of various tables in the middle. This table was fairly quiet as each of the mages had their nose in a book. However, occasionally, they'd exchange tales of what was happening in their book that may have reminded them of something else that happened in another book. Henri and Mercy had both been surprised to find that even though the girls both had lighter exteriors, they actually shared a lot the same book interests, as the two Sunflower women had read many, many books.

Ella and Sayomi had a chess board set up at another table and both were playing each other while Cantrelle watched. However, it was rare that either of the two females moved either of their pieces, so Cantrelle had sunken down with her arms on the table, her eyes dull with boredom.

"How do you win? When will someone win?" the little girl asked.

Sayomi was lost in thought, as it was her turn and she seemed to be thinking silently for at least ten minutes, her eyes scanning the entire board over and over again.

Ella turned to the little girl and responded in a soft voice. "The rules are pretty simple. Whoever captures the opponent's king first wins," she explained. "But certain pieces can only move certain ways."

"I'm taking your knight," Sayomi stated after a moment, moving over Ella's white horse-head shaped piece and replacing it with her own castle shaped piece.

Ella's eyes widened and a very, very, brief flash of pouting could be seen across her lips. She then began to look the board over, realizing that she had far fewer pieces than Sayomi, much to her dismay. She was probably going to lose this. Sayomi's black army stood strong while she was only left with three pawns, two bishops, one rook, and her king and queen. She had only managed to capture two of Sayomi's pawns and one bishop. It was not looking good for her.

"Your move," Sayomi said in an almost taunting voice.

Ella sat back in her chair and her brows furrowed as she brought a hand up to her chin. She didn't need to lose her calm. That was one thing that would definitely not work in this scenario. So, the table went quiet again.

At another table, Niki, Daze and Anita sat. While Niki and Anita chatted about various thing, Daze had her feet propped up on the table, leaning back with her straw hat shielding her eyes. Anita was currently telling Niki about her most recent experience with the theater company while Niki laughed at the other woman's overdone recollections. Not long after Anita ended the story, the doors to the guild opened and Fawn and Viera walked in and after scanning the area, Viera decided to sit with the three girls, while Fawn walked over to the bar where Kimi and Cecil were sitting.

"Where's your other extension?" Anita asked, turning to Viera. It was rare to see Viera enter the guild without Ephraim and Fawn, as a lot of the times, they grabbed up a mission or let Fawn cook for them and then left on a mission.

"Feeding the little balls of allergies that he calls friends," Viera responded. "He finds them adorbs, but all I can think of when I see them is how I'm not gonna be able to breath out my nose."

"Alpacas," Anita mumbled under her breath, obviously getting a different image in her head than Viera.

Viera arched a brow and figured they were on two different toppings. She then turned to Daze, who looked like she may be asleep and a devious smirk spread across her face. "You know, you'd look totes sexy if you had a skirt on," she flirted with a wink.

Daze tilted her head up so that one narrowed hazel eye could be seen, the light of the guild catching her glare and making her eye flash. She didn't say anything, just made sure that Viera could see the look she gave her.

Niki was about to laugh at Daze's over-serious reaction, but she didn't have time to, as Viera's grin widened and she stood up, propping up one leg on the table as she leaned over Daze. "You wanna go?" she asked.

Daze was silent for a moment before standing and cracking her neck. She tilted her hat up so that that her eyes could be seen as they met the eyes of the woman who towered over her. "You really wanna play this game?"

With that, Viera's left arm burst from her jacket and glove, exposing a large, furry arm with sharp black claws. She smashed the table, causing Anita and Niki to jump back in surprise while Daze stood, unfazed.

"That's so awesome!" Mercy cheered blissfully, while the rest of the guild didn't look very happy about a fight breaking out in the guild.

"You think your little calm act is totes intimidating, don'tcha?!" Viera snapped, swiping at Daze. Right as her arm neared Daze, she felt her entire body become sluggish and she found herself stumbling forward.

"You don't even think, do you?" Daze asked as she slammed her heel into Viera's back, sending her to the ground. She had gotten a glimpse of Viera's thoughts, but there really wasn't much there.

Viera, still not completely there from the magic, rolled over and grabbed Daze's other leg, throwing her towards Niki in a rather sluggish, but still powerful, movement.

"Dammit!" Niki hissed as she panicked, resulting in catching Daze bridal style. They exchanged awkward glances before she put the woman down. She then pulled out the sword that was at her side and called out "Load!" When the tick-marks appeared on the side of her sword, she smirked. "I am not missing out on a good fight!" With that, she charged, jumping over the remains of their old table and shouting "Gunblade Magic: Point Blank Shot!" swinging her sword furiously at Viera.

Viera dodged by stepping to the side and then grabbed Niki's arm and threw her randomly, causing her to fly into the table of the chess players.

Sayomi's eyes widened and then turned dark as Niki rolled over their chess board, ruining a match that she was very close to winning. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?" she screeched, stomping her foot into the ground. With that, she held out her hand and a solid black scythe that was about and her height appeared in it and she leapt at Niki, who was now standing up.

Just as she was managing to recover, Niki saw Sayomi dashing towards her and managed to ready her sword just in time to block the swing of the giant scythe. "Why the hell are you attacking me?!" Niki demanded to know. "I didn't just throw myself across the guild hall!" With that, she put all of her strength forward and flipped Sayomi over her head, rolling forward so that Sayomi wouldn't be able to hit her with her scythe.

Sayomi caught herself with her scythe, raking it across the ground of the guild hall as she tried to slow herself. She swung her scythe around and as she did this, she hit Anita in the back, sending the taller woman flying forward.

"Screw you!" Anita snapped, waving her hand in the air and sending Sayomi flying into the ceiling, a few cracks in the ceilings forming from the girl's impact.

"Should we do anything about this?" Cecil asked in a tiny voice.

"I'll get Viera," Fawn said, stepping forward. When she did, however, she was hit with a magic bullet from Niki, causing her to fly back into the bar with a small scream. "What gives?!" the small mage yipped, ignoring Kimi and Cecil as they asked if she was okay. A magic circle appeared in front of Viera, who was the one Niki was apparently firing at and when the Gunblade mage fired a few shots at the wolf-armed girl, the magic bullets reflected.

Niki hopped in the air, surprised that Fawn had tried to attack her. She was so surprised by this, that she didn't notice Viera charge at her.

Not that it mattered, as a huge screeching sound erupted in her ears, making her fall to the ground from sheer shock at the pitch of the noise. "WHAT THE HELL?!" she growled.

Daze smirked, but only for a second as a large sphere of black, purple and blue magic hit her, bursting into star dust. She was sent crashing into one of the walls of the guild and she looked around to see Ella with her hands up, the dark magic circles just fading.

"You started this," Ella stated.

Daze got up, dusting herself off. "No, I didn't," Daze responded flatly. However, she mumbled, "Virus Magic: Plug-In," glaring at Ella.

Ella let out a gasp as her entire body went numb. Before she knew what she was doing, she fell to the ground, scared for her life at that moment.

"We should join!" Mercy cheered, pulling a black key from a small pocket in her dress. "Open the Gate of the Creeper, Jeepers!" she called out.

A black, shadowy magic circle appeared in front of her and after a moment, a tall man in a long trench-coat and black fedora appeared, shadows dispersing from around him. "You called, Mistress?" he asked in a dark, wispy voice.

"Let's fight!" Mercy cheered. "C'mon, Henri, use your magic, too!"

"O-okay," Henri stepped forward, holding both of his hands out as a green and white magic circle appeared in front of him. "Centaur Warrior: Manifest!" he called, a burst of magic coming from both of his hands as a half-man, half-horse man appeared in front of him. The man had dark brown hair, a dark brown goatee and a well-toned, bare chest. He had a sword in his hand. He emitted a green aura and if one looked closely, they could see that he was slightly transparent, a manifestation of Henri's magic.

"That's so awesome!" Mercy cheered, hugging Henri tightly. She then turned and was going to ask Penny and Gwen to join in, only to find that the two women had made it over to the bar, where they were at least a little bit safer. She frowned for a moment but then turned back to her spirit. "Jeepers, attack whoever you want! It's an all-out-royale!"

"Yes, Mistress!" Jeepers practically wheezed. He then looked around before targeting Anita, darting forward while spreading shadows all around the floor around him and punched her in the face, sending her back.

"The hell?!" she yipped, her hand going up to her face. She then glared and shot her hand towards one of the tables. A white magic circle appeared over the table and in an instant, she threw the table at Jeepers without actually touching it.

Jeepers dodged and the table went flying past and smacked into Sayomi, who let out a cry of surprise and pain. She got up and tried to determine where the magic was coming from and her eyes eventually locked on Mercy. Grabbing her scythe, she charged forward.

Henri used his centaur to block the attack, making it block with its sword, swiping his fingers through the air to give it commands.

Sayomi put more force into her attack, causing the centaur to burst into a mix of white and green magical dust, and just as she was about to charge at Mercy, the doors to the guild hall burst open and everyone froze.

Dariel stood with a man that no one in the guild recognized. The man was a couple of inches taller than Dariel with a lean build and sleek, dark purple hair that fell to the middle of his back. His eyes were pale green and naturally narrowed with long lashes. He had a soft jaw and high cheekbones, making him look a bit feminine. He was dressed in baggy, dark green pants tucked into black boots, and his upper torso was wrapped in porous bandages from the neck down. His brows furrowed at the sight of the wrecked guild hall.

"Where is Winter, guys?" Dariel asked, an equally confused look on his face as he examined the state of the guild. "And what is today? 'Bathe the Halls in Blood' day?" he asked, his eyes darkening. He then motioned for the man to follow him over to the bar, stepping over Ella's body and over the rubble of some of the tables that had been destroyed.

"A fight broke out," Cecil explained with a small laugh after seeing Dariel's confused look. She then turned to the man with a kind smile. "Welcome to Silver Griffin. My name's Cecil. You are?"

"My name is Varis." The man responded. "And does this kind of thing happen regularly?" he asked, his eyes searching the place.

"Erm… Not as much as other guilds, I'd like to think," Cecil said with a small wave of dismissal.

"If Winter were here, they'd all be made to dress up in funny costumes!" Cantrelle said, peeping her head over the bar.

"She still may…" Kimi said, nervously laughing. "Oh, and Winter is taking nap. Really, she should be down here….. Now!"

On cue with Kimi's words, Winter came speedily hobbling down the stairs, her eyes glowing white with fury. "What in blue blazes are you brats down here doing?!" she shouted. "Look what you've done to my guild hall!"

Instantly, all magic in the guild hall ceased and the mages who had once been fighting, most of which were bruised and battered, stood straight, acting perfectly calm and normal.

"My…. Whatever are you talking about Ms. Winter… It looks perfectly clean down here," Niki said in an innocent, naïve tone, tucking her hands behind her back. She was hoping if she acted innocent enough, she would be able to get out of trouble.

"Yeah, we're all the bestest of pals, can'tcha see?" Viera said, slinging her arm around Daze's shoulder and forcing a cheeky grin.

"Us, fight? Never," Anita chimed in sarcastically, though she leaned into the hug with Daze and Viera.

"Bunch o' lying hooligans!" Winter snapped. "I told all of you to keep magic to a minimum inside the guild hall!" With a wave of her arms, she materialized a bunch of a skimpy, blue and white French maid outfits that would just barely cover any vital parts for the women. "I want you to change into these and fix this place back up!"

When Sayomi lifted her hand and an electric blue magic circle started to appear, Winter added in, "And do it without magic!" making the mage drop her hand back to her side. "Now, go get changed!" the guild master commanded, throwing the garments at the females who weren't being the bar.

Henri stood there once all of the females had scattered, his expression blank apart from the blush that tinted his nose. "And what about me, Ms. Winter?" he asked in a tiny voice.

Winter eyed him, her eyes narrowing. "I think having to stay in the guild when all of those lovely ladies are so scantily clad shall suffice," she responded. She then walked over to the bar, looking at Varis. "You're not a member of the guild, are you?" she asked.

"No, ma'am," Varis responded. "I am Varis Aria, and I have come looking to become a member of your humble guild, Ms. Esmera."

Winter eyed him warily. "How did you find out about my guild?" It was rare that she ever heard anyone call her by her last name, even if people did seek to join. She was just known as Winter, Mother of the Griffins.

"Oh… I just heard of it by ear," Varis responded, keeping eye contact with her. "I've heard a few travelers talking about a new guild that may be making its way up in the ranks and I figured I would join."

"Oooh…. People are talking about us?" Kimi asked, clapping her hands together, her eyes lighting up. She then turned to Penelope and Gwen. "Is that why you two joined, too?"

"I may have overheard a couple of your mages speaking with my father," Penny responded. "I can't say I've heard much about Silver Griffin apart from that, I must admit."

Winter turned back to Varis and seemed to look him up and down again, her eyes narrowing for a moment. "Are you positive that the words that you have spoken are true?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Varis responded, still holding eye contact.

"Well, welcome to the guild, Varis!" Winter said with a bright smile. "Where would you like your guild mark?" she asked.

"Um, under my right eye, in green, please," he responded. Once winter waved her hand over his face and the guild mark appeared, he rubbed it hand over it and then smiled politely. "Thank you, Ms. Esmera."

"Ms. Esmera was my mother's name. She's been dead for seventy years. Call me Winter," Winter said.

Cecil wondered how old Winter was when she lost her mother, as the elderly woman looked old, but still had to have been fairly young when her mother died, if she had been gone for seventy years.

Apparently Winter could feel her thoughts, as she patted Cecil's hand. "We all lose people we love, sweet dear. Don't be concerned with an old woman like me." She then turned her attention back to Varis and Dariel. "Where did you meet Varis, Dariel?" she asked.

"Oh, I was just helping tend to the plants around town and he stopped me and asked me if I knew anything about Silver Griffin," Dariel responded.

"I couldn't help but to think someone quirky enough to talk to plants would be a member of a guild who is known for its 'odd' members," Varis explained. His eyes then scanned the area, which was still a mess as the females hadn't returned yet. "I feel as though the rumors of odd guild members may be true."

"This is coming from a person who looks like mummy from the waist up," Dariel retorted, his eye twitching.

"I do not find anything to be amiss with speaking with plants," Penny said. Her tone then changed as she crinkled her nose at the way she spoke. "I mean, I've read lots of studies saying that it helps them grow."

Dariel shot her a glance for her forced tone of voice during the second sentence, but didn't really comment on it.

Winter turned to Varis again after hearing Penny talk. "Do you have a place to stay, dear?" Winter asked.

"No, ma'am," Varis responded. "I've heard that there were dorms and was going to ask about the price of them."

"You can stay in them. Don't worry about the pricing," Winter said. "I tend to work out the pricing based on each mage's capability. I don't want you to worry with making rent until you get settled into the guild."

"Ms. Winter is so kind," Gwen pointed out in a tiny voice. She and Penny shared a dorm in the building, as they both found it more convenient to share a dorm for the days that Gwen felt sick enough to be incapacitated. As if to prove her wrong, all of the females, who had been upstairs changing, came down the stairs in a line.

Gwen and Cecil blushed for them while Kimi, Cantrelle and Penny giggled. Dariel and Varis stared like any male probably would, while Henri forced his eyes into a book.

"This is awkward," Anita huffed, messing with the ends of her skirt. "Are you really gonna make us work in this?" she asked Winter.

"Yes, dear," Winter responded. "You all will eventually learn to stop tearing up my guild hall when no one else is around if you're all punished correctly."

"Can you… Erm… Make… The boys leave?" Ella asked in a tiny voice.

"No. They can stay if they want to," Winter responded.

"Maybe one of you sweeties will enjoy the show," Viera flirted with the girls behind the bar, making them all sweat-drop. "I know I totes will," she said as she watched Fawn start picking stuff up, being quite careful with how she moved.

"Don't stare, you perv!" Fawn snapped after she felt Viera's eyes on her. Her face was beet red.

"I don't think they would look that bad if they were just a bit longer…" Cecil said, trying to comfort the other girls.

"And pink," Kimi added with a bright smile. "It would look amazing in pink!"

"And there are only 3 guys in here right now. Most of them are away on long missions," Cecil added. She betted that Bandera would be devastated if he found that he missed this scene. And Kai. And maybe a few other guys who would be a bit quieter about their amusement.

Varis cleared his throat and forced his eyes away from the scene. "Well, thank you, Ms. Winter, for letting me stay in the dorms," he said.

"Not a problem, dearest," she responded.

* * *

><p>"Do you really think something big is going on with this mission?" Fame asked, turning to Vesta and flipping his hair out of his eyes. He and his team had left Nadeshiko a couple of days ago and were now heading high into the mountains. Winter had come to them acting rather sweet compared to how she normally treated them and pleaded with them to take this mission, saying something about their other mission tying into this and apologizing about forcing them onto another S-class mission.<p>

"Why are you lookin' at me for the answer?" Vesta asked, arching a brow at him. She was walking with her arms tucked behind her head and Stella was sleeping in the small backpack that was on her back, her head poking out. They were told to pack as lightly as possible for the trip, and so each of the four griffins had a pack with a small lunchbox and a change of clothes on their backs, and Fame and Vesta had their Exceeds in their packs as well.

"Well, she's your grandma," Fame responded.

"You've known her just as long as I have," Vesta pointed out. "If not longer."

"True…" Fame said, turning his head forward, flipping his hair out of his eyes again.

"Winter has never really come off as the type to overreact," Julius said, pushing his glasses back on his nose. "It really concerns me that she would come to us like that."

"Maybe she trusts us more," Ryuuga pointed out. "We've been members of the guild longer, right?"

"Not Rylen," Vesta responded. "He's been a member for over ten years and I think he was the first young member to join the guild when it started going downhill."

"It could still be possible that she trusts us more since he picked a bunch of newer folks to take with him," Julius pointed out.

"Maybe…" Vesta mumbled. She then smirked. "Whatever it is, I can't wait to kick some ass!"

"Hell yeah," Fame agreed.

"Definitely," Julius agreed.

Ryuuga snorted in agreement.

They continued to walk for a few minutes until a coin flew from a cliff above and hit Fame right in the upper-side of his head, causing him to wince and grab his head. He looked down and saw the coin and blinked. "What the hell?" he mumbled, bending down to pick it up.

"FAME!" A voice said above the cliff. With that, a shadow was seen jumping from the cliff and landing in front of the griffins. The shadow was from a man with chocolate colored, shaggy brown hair that covered half of his ears, with locks flipping up and outward in many directions. His eyes were almond-shaped with dark lashes and a shiny sea green color that resembled the ocean. He had sun-tanned skin and a facial structure similar to Fame, with a slender, rounded nose, but a firmer jaw. He stood shorter than all of the other men, at about 5'8'', but he was fairly muscular, with broad shoulders. He was dressed in a biker-like style with a black leather jacket that was lined with beige fur that poofed out of the jacket, a white v-neck shirt, dark blue jeans with a chain hanging from the left belt-loop, connecting to the pocket, and black worn boots. He had a small brown leather coin purse hanging from one of his right belt-loops.

"Excuse me?" Fame asked, blinking at the man. While he looked sort of familiar, no names or real memories came to mind. "Who the hell are you?" he asked, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

The man glared at Fame. "You really don't remember me?!" he asked.

Fame shook his head. "Nope."

"He looks a little bit like you, Fame," Vesta pointed out. "But a lot better-looking," she then added teasingly.

"Did you really just leave everything from your childhood behind?" the man asked. "I go by Fortune, but I'll assure you that we share the same last name," the man introduced himself, flipping a coin in the air and catching it.

"Nope. Definitely don't know anyone who would go by such a stupid name," Fame responded, tucking his hands away into his pockets. "And did you say we have the same last name?" he asked. He then squinted. "Nope." He shrugged, thinking he looked like the cousin that he used to hang out with.

"So, I'm guessing you forgot about Loh, too?" the man asked.

"Nah, that bitch is part of the guild now," Fame responded, rolling his eyes. He then stopped for a moment. "Wait, are you trying to tell me you're Xan?" he asked. When the man nodded, the blond boy burst out laughing. "I don't where you got information from my past, but I can assure you, you're not him! That kid couldn't say two words without stammering!"

A vein swelled up on the other man, Fortune's head. "I am, though!" he snapped. "You always told me there was no place in the world for someone who can't speak for themselves! I learned to do that!"

Fame arched a brow, the amusement at the boy's acting still in his eyes.

"I didn't know you used to be an inspirational speaker," Julius said with a smirk.

"Piss off," Fame hissed at Julius. "And is that so? So what's up with your stupid name?"

"Does that matter? Shouldn't I say the same about you?" Fortune asked.

"Tch, go to hell!" Fame growled.

Fortune rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. He then held out one hand, and within a golden circle, an ethereal deck of playing cards appeared. He shuffled it quickly, and then drew the top card. "Fame, guess what card I just drew?"

"Hell if I know," he responded, flipping his hair. "Why would I wanna play cards with you? I'm on a mission you know."

"Just do it!" Fortune snapped back.

"Ugh! Fine!" Fame growled back. "A four of spades," he said randomly.

"Nope," Fortune responded. The card then grew large, about the height of Fortune and flipped over, revealing the Queen of Hearts. An ethereal form of the queen emerged from the card and hovered over Fortune, raining golden dust upon him. She then kissed him on the cheek and the cards vanished. Fortune then dashed forward at high speed and attempted to punch Fame in the face.

"The hell?!" Fame snarled, dodging and jumping behind Fortune. "You're picking a fight with the wrong person!" he growled. "Blue Sound Lightning: Chord Wave!" he called, throwing one arm forward. The sound of a guitar being strummed filled the air and a wave of bright blue lightning shot forward from a magic circle.

Fortune swiveled around to dodge and then jumped forward with a quickness, punching Fame in the face. "Let's play a game, Fame!" he announced. "Casino's Chance: Three in a Row!" With that, a huge ethereal slot machine appeared in front of Fame. "We're rolling for you, okay?"

Fame rubbed his face, which was starting to swell, and then looked up at the slot machines questioningly. It began to spin and one X at a time appeared in the slots. When 3 X's in a row appeared, the machine began to flash excitedly and then burst, causing a giant glowing X to appear on Fame's chest.

"Oh, that's too bad," Fortune said sympathetically. "Looks like this match will be over in no time." With that, he was on Fame, punching him over and over again, his fists glowing.

Fame tried over and over again to electrify his hands, but nothing happened. He couldn't feel his magic anymore. In between being punched, he questioned, "What the hell did you do to me?!" He eventually managed to get away from Fortune by flipping backwards. He tried hard to get his magic to come to him, but nothing happened.

"You got X's. That means no magic for you for a few minutes," Fortune explained. "It's really sad, right? And the queen has blessed me, so I'm stronger!" He tried to get to Fame, but the other boy surprised him by dodging in a flash, ending up behind him.

Fame attempted to punch him in the back of the head, but since Fortune tried to turn around, Fame's fist collided with his jaw, making the brown-haired boy gasp as he was knocked to the ground.

"You don't think I can fight without my magic?" Fame asked, flipping his hair out of his face. "You're so dumb."

Fortune stood and another deck of cards appeared in his hand. After shuffling, he said, "Guess a card."

"Piss off!" Fame snapped. He attempted to roundhouse kick Fortune, but when he leg came near the other boy, it collided with an invisible barrier that flashed with gold upon impact. Pain pulsed through Fame's entire body and he stumbled back, gasping.

"You can't do anything to me until you guess a card. There is also a thirty feet barrier around us," Fortune explained. "Guess the card if you want to continue."

"Dammit. Your magic is so stupid," Fame hissed. "And I'll guess that it's a Jack of Diamonds."

"Curses!" Fortune growled when he revealed a Jack of Diamonds. He then threw the deck, which caused the cards to fly like a flurry of shuriken.

Fame jumped into the air and dodged easily. He then noticed that the X on his chest had disappeared and he smirked. "Blue Sound Lightning: Heavy Metal Clap!" he shouted, as the sound of a whammy bar erupted into the air and a bright blue magic circle appeared above Fortune. After half a second, a series of blue lightning bolts rained upon him.

While Fortune managed to dodge the first two, the third one hit him, sending electricity pulsing through his body. He winced and before he could react, Fame was on him, throwing quickly punching him again and again with lightning amped punches. The beat of techno music could be heard with every punch that hit. Reaching for his coin purse, he grabbed out a hand full of jewel and threw them into the air. "Casino's Chance: Cash Out!" he yelled. With that, his entire body began to glow and he blocked Fame's punches with the outsides of his forearms. Each hit made both the sound of techno music and the "ca'ching" of money.

After a moment of realizing that nothing was happening, Fame stopped and jumped back. However, Fortune rolled forward and then began to throw punches, each successful one making the same noise. His punches were much faster and harder than with the queen's blessing and Fame rarely ever managed to dodge successfully.

"This is pretty interesting," Vesta said with a grin. "I would join in, but I think I'd rather see a fair fight."

"Fortune's magic is not something that I've heard of, but converting actual money to magic power seems a bit unfair," Julius noted.

Ryuuga just watched intently.

"I-I hope F-Fame's okay…" Nikko, who had left Fame's backpack when the fighting start, said.

"I'm sure he'll be okay," Stella, who had also gotten out of Vesta's backpack, assured the other Exceed.

While Fame tried his hardest to dodge and get away, he failed. Before he knew it, he was on his back. He was bruised pretty badly and knew that he didn't need to waste all of his magic with being on a difficult mission. He did not want to surrender, but he didn't want to exhaust himself, and with a cheap-ass magic like Fortune's it was definitely going to take a lot of magic to do anything.

Fortune stopped when he saw the look of thought in Fame's eyes. "Give up, cousin?" he asked with a grin.

"No, never!" Fame snapped, hopping back up, his fists bursting with electricity.

"Fame, you dumbass!" Julius barked. He knew that Fame had probably already thought about the fact that they were on a mission. He also knew that the lightning mage was letting his pride get the best of him; it was really the main weakness of their team, as all of them were pretty prideful.

"Yeah, Fame, just admit that your cousin kicked your ass!" Vesta called.

Fame glared at his teammates and then at Fortune. He flipped his hair out of his eyes and then turned his nose up to the other boy, crossing his arms over his chest. "You didn't win. I need to save my magic for the mission I'm on."

"Yeah, whatever," Fortune responded with another grin. He then walked over to Fame and extended a hand to him for a handshake. "Sorry about stopping you on your mission. I just wanted to prove to myself that I've gotten stronger, and I thought I recognized your voice."

Fame ignored his hand and then asked in a flat voice, "Do you live in these mountains?"

"Nope," Fortune responded, frowning at receiving the cold shoulder. "I was exploring because I was visiting with my parents and they were talking about some sort of weird crystals and how a lot of people are speculating some strange goings on."

"You know about the crystals?" Vesta asked. That was part of their mission. To destroy some sorts of crystals with Rylen's teams.

"Erm… Yeah… I found one, but I couldn't get near it without getting bombarded by orbs of magic," Fortune explained. "It was crazy."

"Well, our mission is to find the other team of our guild members and help them out," Fame explained, flipping his hair again.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen anyone with our guild symbol around here, would you've?" Julius asked.

Fortune shook his head. "Nah. Don't think so. If they're destroying those crystals, they're probably having a hell of a time, though." He then stepped back to look at all of the griffins. "I'm Fortune, by the way. I think I said that, but I don't think I got any of your names."

All of the griffins apart from Fame introduced themselves flatly.

"Your team seems like a bag of rainbows, Fame," Fortune pointed out with a smirk.

"Yep," Fame responded with snort.

"Is the crystal you found near here?" Vesta asked. "We could probably go wipe that out and then meet up with the others."

"Uh, yeah. It's like, right up this path among some old ruins," Fortune said. "It's a little bit hidden, but trust me when I say that you can feel it." He then hesitated before adding, "I can lead you to it if you want."

"Yeah, sure," Vesta said with a grin. "Lead the way, pretty boy."

Fortune snorted at her use of words on him and then turned to walk away. "Oh, yeah, I'm back in Nadeshiko for good, now, Fame and I'll probably be joining your guild if your masters permit it."

"Great," Fame mumbled sarcastically.

"What, scared of a little competition?" he asked over his shoulder with a smirk.

"Tch. You wish."

"Your relationship is… As Fortune said about us earlier, a bag of rainbows," Julius noted sarcastically.

Nikko hopped on Fame's shoulder. "It-It's so fun to meet people again, r-right?" he asked. He hadn't known Shiloh or Fortune very long before they parted ways in some form or fashion, but he remembered how close Fame had been to them at one point.

"Sure, whatever," he responded, rolling his eyes.

* * *

><p>With that, they followed Fortune up the mountain path as Fortune tried to make a little bit of conversation with Fame and his friends.<p>

"How's Loh?" he started out by asking.

"Probably getting her ass kicked," Fame responded. "She's one of the ones that we're looking for."

"Really?" Fortune asked. "I'd love to see her again."

"She's not gonna recognize you," Fame pointed out.

"Maybe," Fortune said with a shrug. He then asked, "Does Silver Griffin have a lot of members now? I walked by and that run-down building behind it looked better."

"Mmmm…." Vesta tried to think of just how many people were in Silver Griffin since she saw Fame shrug his shoulders at the question. "I think there's more than twenty now."

"Awesome," Fortune responded. "My parents used to always nag about how it just needed to be shut down since it was going nowhere," he added with a nervous laugh.

"Your parents suck, though," Fame said in a matter-of-fact tone, as if that was something to defend Silver Griffin.

"That's probably true," Fortune said with a smaller nervous laugh. "Have all of you been members for a long time like Fame?"

"For the most part," Vesta responded with a shrug. All of the members of their team were fairly long time griffins and really, they made up a large portion of the first griffins.

"I thought about joining when I was younger," Fortune said. "But I wanted to get stronger first."

"Your magic doesn't seem as strong as it is luck-based and pay-to-win," Julius pointed out.

"Yeah, but I can fight with just cashing out if I enough jewel. It's really fun to use and generally, the odds go in my favor," Fortune said.

"Wouldn't it be smarter to just make them always in your favor?" Fame asked.

"Yeah, but what's the fun in that?" Fortune asked with his lips revealing his teeth. He then tilted his head in question. "Do you feel that?" he asked.

"The tugging at my magic?" Vesta asked. She felt as though her magic was being pulled at; it was a feeling that made her stomach churn.

Fortune then sped up his walking and led them to what seemed to be the remains of a small religious temple. Four stone pillars remained, though they were all chipped and covered in moss. Some of the stones that used to be the flooring remained, though they were covered in grass. A few old stones lay in random places around the ruins. The most noticeable feature of the ruins was the statue in the middle, which portrayed a woman with bird wings attached to her arms and a large, round crest coming from her back. She had her arms in a position that looked like she was embracing something or shielding it with her wings. The statue appeared to be dressed in a very simple dress that were covered in hieroglyphics. Under the statue, there was a white crystal.

"That's the crystal," Fortune stated.

"Well, you're at least of functioning intelligence," Julius stated, pushing his glasses up on his face and ignoring the mean glance that he got from Fortune.

Vesta continued walking forward while asking, "So, where are these orbs you speak of?" However, after a moment, she stopped and her eyes widened as the crystal flashed with white light and they were surrounded by orbs. The place, which was surrounded by tall trees, was glowing brightly now. "You know, this is kind of pretty…" she commented.

"So, we just need to destroy the crystal, right?" Fame asked. He then charged it, both of his fists crackling with the sound of techno music and lightning and as he slammed his fist into the smooth surface of the diamond-shaped crystal, all of the orbs converged on him, bursting on impact. He gasped in pain and fell to the ground afterwards… "At least… I got rid of the orbs…"

"No you didn't," Julius stated as another field of light spheres appeared. He sighed and turned to Fortune. "How long did you mess with this crystal?"

"Just long enough to see that it wouldn't move from its spot," Fortune responded with a shrug. "The orbs seem to focus on whoever is attacking the crystal."

"Maybe it would be better if we distract the orbs," Vesta suggested. "Would that work?"

"It's worth a try," Julius commented.

Fame stood and hobbled back over to his group. He was sore to say the least, but he was able to stand, which meant he was able to fight. "I think you two should stay back," he said to the Exceeds.

"O-okay," Nikko said, following Stella who was flying a few feet away from the scene.

"So, we just going to fight these things?" Ryuuga asked, looking at all of the orbs. At that moment, a magenta colored magic circle appeared below his feet and above his head and his body began to glow magenta, changing as he requiped into an armor that he called Proton Abyss. When the glow vanished, his upper body was covered in a simple bonelike material that hugged his muscles, with chainmail that extended into a skirt underneath. His legs were covered by worn brown trousers and his feet were bare. His shoulder were covered in large, spiky guards that appeared to be stained red with blood, and matching spiky gauntlets covered his forearms down to his hands. His mask was covered in a gas mask, leaving only his eyes visible, and his head was covered in a skull-like mask that resembled some sort of horse's skull. Upon moving his shoulders, a six foot tall shield floated down on either side of them. Blood red cannons set atop of each shield, ready to fire. He held in his hands a black crossbow that was spiky and glowing with silver runes, the "arrows" shaped like black tridents.

"Myth Soul: Hellhound!" Julius shouted. A bright red magic circle appeared under him and in an instance his body burst into flames. His body seemed to burn until the only things he was wearing were shredded brown pants, furry brown gloves, and a brown leather collar with spikes on it. His eyes glowed yellow and his teeth appeared like fangs when he smirked.

"Star-Make: Dual Katanas!" Vesta called as two dark blue magic circles appeared in her extended palms and she pulled two glowing, pure white katanas from them.

"Casiono's Chance: Cash Out!" Fortune called, throwing two handfuls of jewel into the air and glowing brightly afterwards.

With that, the mages started fighting the orbs, Fame, Fortune and Julius all punching at them, while Vesta slashed her way through them and Ryuuga fired tridents that pierced multiple foes at a time. It did not take long for the mages to become aware of the same things that Rylen's team already knew: One, their magic was depleting at an incredible rate and two, they weren't thinning anything out.

"Someone's gotta attack the crystal! We're not going to be able to fight long!" Julius barked, his voice coming out in a deeper growl, flames crackling as he spoke.

"I'll do it!" Fortune responded. He then charged forward and slammed his entire body into the crystal which cracked upon impact. However, a bunch of the orbs went flying towards him.

Vesta was quick and flipped over the orbs, landing in front of them and calling out, "Star Make: Wall!" and wincing as a large part of her reserve was drained from the impact. "You'd better thank me for that!" she stated firmly, her breathing heavy.

"Thanks!" Fortune responded kindly. He then threw up another hand full of jewel in the air "Casino's Chance: Cash Out!" This time, he held his hand into the air and it began to glow immensely brighter than the rest of his body and he slammed his fist into the crack of the crystal, making it spread even further, though the sheer pressure and magic released from the crystal caused the knuckles on his dominant hand to burst, blood dripping to the ground.

Vesta stared at him for a moment, not expecting a kind voice from him, as he had originally came off as the same kind of prick as Fame. She didn't let herself get distracted by it, though, as she turned her attention back to the orbs as another wave came towards her. "Star Make: Naginata!" she shouted, grabbing a long weapon that consisted of a white hot pole with a single, shining blade on the end. She held it horizontally and spun it around, scowling when a few of the orbs made it past Fortune and hit him in the back, causing him to let out pained grunts.

Fame eventually stopped punching the lights, breathing heavily. He took a moment to catch his breath and was then surrounded by a bunch of magic circles as he called out "Blue Sound Lightning: Melee Hymn!" and shot a burst of lightning in every direction.

He wasn't close enough to hit Vesta or Fortune and while Julius hopped into the air, Ryuuga shielded himself with the two giant shields. On his way down, Julius took aim at the ground and all the spheres that were below him, his fist bursting into bright flames as he slammed it into the ground, burning all of the earth within a teen foot radius and destroying a lot of the orbs. He fell to one knee when he realized just how much magical energy it took. However, the orbs didn't seem to be repopulating too fast anymore.

Ryuuga also took notice of the fact that the orbs were thinning out and called out "Proton Abyss: Nebulos Trident!" His hand crashed into the ground and a black magic circle appeared under it. After a few seconds, a dark raincloud formed a few feet away and rained down water that compressed into the shape of black tridents upon the orbs.

"Hurry it up, Fortune!" Fame barked. He tried to stand up, but he was hurt. There was no denying it. He felt like he was going to pass out at any given second. However, he was not one to call defeat. He forced himself to stand, swallowing hard and flipping his hair out of his eyes. The orbs had been bursting on all of them the entire time, and their bodies were covered in burns.

"I-I'm w-w-worried…." Nikko cried, tears streaming down his face as he watched the scene. It was very, very rare to see Fame's team down like they were now.

"Don't be! They'll be fine!" Stella snapped, though her eyes sparkled with tears of worry as well.

"I'm trying!" Fortune responded loudly. Mustering all of the strength that he could, he reared back to punch the crystal again. He was surprised when Vesta turned around wielding her dual katanas.

"Let's hit this with everything we got!" she said in a determined voice. With that, both of the mages attacked the crystal at full force, bursting it and causing themselves to fly backwards.

Fortune caught Vesta as they landed and skidded back with her in his lap. "Sorry!" he apologized quickly, letting her go.

She wasn't even focused on him or the fact that he had been holding her. She was watching as a bright light formed in the place of the crystal, building up into a giant orb. "Guys…. I really think we might have a problem!" she shouted over the loud humming that the orb was making.

"Ya think?!" Julius snarled, backpedaling as his eyes rested on the orb.

"Duck behind me!" Ryuuga commanded as he stepped in front of his allies, a giant shield in each hand.

They didn't have time to back talk and all did as told, lying on the ground behind the man.

As the orb shot forward, Ryuuga blocked it with all of his might, his heels digging deep into the ground as the force pushed him back. He, along with his teammates, lost sight as the entire forest was bathed in a magnificent white light and the Exceeds screamed for their partners.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Don't kill me for the cliffhanger! I love all of you! I didn't know where to end it and this was the best place! I would have had to add another 1500 words to get to a better place. And I'm so, so, so, so sorry for this not continuing Shiloh's team's mission. I wanted to, but I got hyper and wrote the entire guild fight scene and… and… I just… Gah! I got carried away with other parts of this chapter! Rest assured, the next chapter should be up in no more than two or three days. I'm going to start working on it tonight or when I wake up and it WILL continue Shiloh and co's mission and this mission. We've got 2-4 more chapters left in this arc, guys! That means I'll probably finish this arc by the end of this week! Hope you've enjoyed and will continue to enjoy this arc! _

_**Credits:**_

_Varis Aria – reven228_

_Alexander "Fortune" Ivory – Nicky Azure and me._

_**Review Responses**_

_**As always, thank you all so much for the reviews. We've reached over 100 reviews! That's incredible! Lots of love for me and I hope you guys continue to enjoy the reboot of Silver Griffin! I've got lots of ideas and will continue to keep this story interactive with polls and listening to reviews and PMs as much as possible! So much love from me, guys! 3**_

_La Maitresse' Dame – Thanks~ I really plan to start an omake. I may open up question submissions for the characters this chapter and if I don't get any responses, I'll probably just do some history lessons or something to help further the backstory of the guild. Winter is shameless in her shippings. You will see this much more throughout the story. XD Winter is quite nice and more about Crystal shall be revealed later. ;)_

_Icera – I hope you did okay on finals~ I understand how that is! X_X Glad you like the characters._

_MyDearWatson – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. Anyway, I wanted to make Nekane a bit more battle-ready at my fiance's request saying that having such a strong magic shouldn't come with such a passive personality, so I tried to show that. She still really hates fighting though. And with Vancha, he's actually really hard to write and I don't feel like I got him exceptionally right… O.o; I want to get better with him. -_-; I plan to expand more on Crystal and Winter soon. I'm just not quite sure how to do it yet. It's harder with characters that don't leave the guild. ^^; Yeah. That's what was happening. I'm really sorry I confused you. X_X And sorry I didn't work Shiloh's mission into this chapter. I planned on it but the first time I looked at the word count I was already at 3k words and I'm just like "How?!" :c _

_FrozenBlast13 – You'll see soon if your intuition is right. ;) Bandera x Nekane is an adorable shipping, no doubt. Hehe. _

_Hayley Le – It's perfectly fine. I understand school tends to run one's life. X_X Vancha is awesome. He'll be even more awesome when I get better at writing his character, since I know I'm probably not getting him completely right. I'm happy you liked all of the characters introduced. I plan to expand on Winter and Crystal soon, though it may honestly be through a flashback chapter._

_DarkHyena – I'm happy that a lot of people are getting interested in Crystal as opposed to just hating her, even though I know there is probably some hat there. Nekane and Mercy will probably get along. :3_

_LightandDarkHeart – Crystal has her reasons. All will be revealed in time._

_Origm2012 – I'm so happy you enjoyed the chapter. I'm sure the word count did the same thing this time, and I hope it's not a bad kind of excited. X_X_

_Puffypuffin3 – She's supposed to come off as horrible. I don't put her in every chapter because I know it would be insufferable. That pun was horrible. O.O I'm glad you like the characters, though. I hope I portrayed Viera okay this chapter. I was a bit uncertain, but I just went with it, as I tend to do. ^^;_

_Reven228 – I try to make sure everything plays out like an anime in my head when I proof-read it. ;3 I hope I did okay with Varis. Sorry his introduction was brief. He will appear more later. C:_

_Vaerith – I hope you did good on your finals! I'm really happy that I'm doing a good job with Vaerith._

_Barrett M107 – Yes, she is related to Vesta as well. She doesn't really claim family very much, though. : I'm happy that you liked the characters. And I'm glad that making Nekane a bit less passive went over well, as it was my fiance's suggestion. I hope I did okay with Vancha last chapter. I feel like he's a bit off but his character is surprisingly harder to write than I thought. I still love him, though. :D_

_Nicky Azure – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. I also hope this chapter and Fortune and Vesta were portrayed well._

_lordsoftheRoses – Soon… It was supposed to be this chapter, but nay, next chapter, you shall see, because I fell at planning stuff out right. OwO_


	9. Chapter 9

**October 4****th****, around 3 am.**

Vesta's eyes fluttered open to the feeling of something cold on her cheek and she rolled over. A light pain throbbed throughout her body and she let out a small groan. Her eyes began to focus and through the branches and leaves of the trees, she could see fading stars. What time was it? Where was she? It wasn't completely uncommon for her to fall asleep under the stars, sure, but she didn't feel like she was near Silver Griffin. She thought for a moment, hugging herself as the cool autumn air brushed her skin. That's right. She was on a mission. The day had ended with lights… Lots of light. Her brows furrowed as thoughts came back to her and after a moment, her eyes widened. HER TEAM!

The tomboy rolled over again and forced herself on her elbows and knees, looking around. Nikko and Stella were right next to her, their fur slightly charred with Fame on the other side of them, still unconscious. She could see Julius on the other side of Fame and upon looking to her left, she saw Fortune, his face stained with the blood from his knuckles. In front of her, she saw Ryuuga, who was lying on the ground in his normal clothing, her arms severely bruised and bloody. She looked around some more and saw her backpack a few feet away. They needed treatment, at least Ryuuga and Fortune. She had a first aid kit in her backpack. As she stood, stumbling forward, Fame stirred.

"The hell….?" Fame grumbled. He rolled over and coughed, staring up at the stars. He didn't have that arrogance to him when he was half-awake and Vesta could see that boyish charm that his face held, not that it appealed to her, as she had known him for close to ten years and knew he was nothing more than a jerk.

When his eyes drifted to her, she frowned at him. "Glad you to see you awake, lazy," she teased. She then hobbled over to her backpack and picked it up.

"Mrm…" Fame sat up, combing his hair with his hands. He then looked around, noticing everything around him, sighing in relief when he saw Nikko. He could feel the throbbing of the bruises on his face and chest and the stinging of multiple smaller injuries throughout his body. He attempted to get up, but his knees buckled, and he fell to them, leaning his head back and groaning in frustration.

This sound woke Nikko up, and when he saw that Fame was awake, he hopped over to him, jumping in his lap and hugging him. "You're okay!" the small Exceed sobbed.

This woke Stella up, and the small Exceed set up in a panic when she didn't see Vesta. She was about to demand to know where she was, when her eyes landed on the Star-Make mage. "You're okay, too!" she cheered, clapping her hands together.

"Yep," Vesta responded with a smirk. She removed the small, square box from her backpack and walked over to Ryuuga, who was the worse of the two who were bloody. She went to touch one of Ryuuga's arms and when he jerked, she jumped back.

At the same time, the other three members of the team began to stir, all of them waking up groggily. Julius sat up and instantly let out a deep sigh. "Would someone mind getting my backpack for me?" he asked in a dry tone. He felt his glasses on his face, but he also saw that one of the lens were gone and the other earpiece was missing.

Fortune got up when Julius asked, and after a moment of swaying and wiping dried blood from his forehead, he walked over and grabbed the black and red colored pack and handed it to Julius. He then winced when he moved his dominant hand, which he had been avoiding because he knew of the pain.

Julius dug through his backpack and found his spare pair of glasses, placing them on his face.

"The hell are you doing?" Ryuuga grumbled at Vesta, glaring at her as he sat up.

"I'm dressing your arms, now can it and don't bitch," Vesta snapped. When Ryuuga didn't say anything else, she cleaned his arms and then wrapped them in bandages. "There, loser," she said, standing up and walking over to Fortune, stumbling as she did so. She was stiff and sore, but she also knew that her grandma had entrusted them and they had wasted a lot of time. "Lemme see your hand."

Fortune held up his injured hand, letting her clean his hand and then wrap it up. He then removed his hand from hers and turned to everyone. "Do you guys need my help on your mission? I don't mind."

The griffins exchanged looks, but before they could even speak about it, Fame stated "No," in flat tone.

"Really?" Vesta asked. She had personally felt that Fortune was pretty strong and would help them.

"You're not a member of the guild yet and we're not endangering anyone in this fight," Fame said, standing and leaning on his knees. He gave himself a few seconds and then walked over to Fortune. "Besides, I don't want me and Loh to have to be saving your ass every five minutes like before," he added with a smirk.

Fortune snorted and rolled his eyes, though he was smiling up at Fame. "Fine. I guess I'll make my way back to Nadeshiko and see if I can join Silver Griffin," he said. "And work on proving to you and Loh that I'm not a loser anymore."

"Tch. Not gonna happen," Fame insisted, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

"Well, see ya, Fortune," Vesta said. She hadn't thought about the fact that it would probably look bad on them as a guild to let someone who wasn't even a member of the guild take on an S-class mission.

Julius and Ryuuga nodded towards to Fortune, Nikko waved and Stella said, "Bye-bye!"

Once Fortune had walked off, Julius turned to Ryuuga. "Did your shields make it through that blast?"

"They're really messed up," Ryuuga responded. "I found the wings to one of my incomplete sets under the crystal before I passed out…" he added.

"Are you gonna be able to replace weapons like that?" Vesta asked.

"I know a blacksmith," Ryuuga responded. "I'll go see them after this mission."

* * *

><p><strong>October 6<strong>**th****, midday**

Rylen and his team had been in the mountains for over a week and had managed to destroy five crystals since the day that they originally arrived in Yarrow. The mayor didn't seem to mind them staying so long and now they were venturing down the mountain quite a ways as Lord Eyren had suggested them do.

While Kai talked and flirted with both Marionette and Shiloh, receiving dismissive laughs and waves from Shiloh and the cold shoulder from Marionette, Rylen seemed extremely focused on the map. They had been traveling since early morning, and he had barely said two words to his friends.

Shiloh and Kai had both taken notice to Rylen's odd behavior and once, Kai had caught up to him and placed a hand on his back, trying to get his attention, only to be ignored. Shiloh was just now working up the courage to ask him what was troubling him. Quickly, she walked up to the tall man and tapped him on the shoulder. "Len, are you okay? Something not feel right?"

Rylen turned to her and causing her to feel even more worried, forced a smile. "I'm fine. Just making sure we don't get lost."

"You know these mountains-" Kai was interrupted before he could finish pointing out that Rylen seemed to know the mountains really well.

"You can never be too safe," Rylen spoke in a blunt tone, his smile not fading. When he looked back down at the map, Shiloh noticed that his hand-the real one- was shaking slightly.

"Rylen," Shiloh started, her tone turning strict. "If you have doubts about where we're going, you need to speak up!"

"Calm down," Rylen said, patting her head with his shaking hand. "It's nothing that should concern any of you. Just facing some inner turmoil and hoping I'm reading the map wrong."

"Why don't you tell us, then, so we know what's going on?" Shiloh asked, her voice softening instantly.

"Yeah, bro, we're friends here," Kai said, sprinting to catch up and place a hand on Rylen's back.

"I do not see the point in keeping things from your team," Marionette said, quickening her pace to catch up with them as well.

Rylen let out a sigh and his head dropped. "It's nothing… Just me being childish… We're going to my hometown, if I'm correct…. I don't want to see it." His entire body shook for a few minutes and he cleared his throat. "I've never been able to come back…. And I don't know what kind of things it's gonna trigger… It just depends on how it is…"

"Well, we're here for ya, you know," Kai said, patting his back. "If you need a shoulder to cry on, you got any of us, though I'm pretty sure a shoulder as cold as Marionette's won't be comfortable."

Marionette glared at Kai even though he had looked over his shoulder and was smiling at her. She eventually resulted in turning her nose up to him with a small, "humph!"

"Kai's right, not about the Marionette part," Shiloh said, grabbing Rylen's forearm. "Don't be afraid to come to us for comfort."

"Thanks," Rylen responded after a moment of thinking, though he didn't look at either of them.

* * *

><p>The group reached an old, dusty wooden sign that read "Welcome to Allium!" with the rest of the sign smeared with what looked like red paint. Rylen breathed slowly through his nose and looked down as they came to the town gates. There were no guards and the gates stood wide open. He could feel that there was a crystal near, but he couldn't find the ability to focus on it.<p>

Kai and Shiloh both stood close to Rylen when they felt the way that he tensed. Kai assured himself that he was going to everything in his power to be there for Rylen, as the man had been there for him on many occasions. Shiloh wanted to be there for him as a friend and because it was the right thing to do.

Marionette stayed close as well, though she didn't have as strong of reasons as the other two, she suspected, he was a sufferable man and she knew that facing the past could be hard.

The first thing that the group noticed was that the village of Allium was dead silent, a practical ghost town. Many of the doors were left open and what looked like red paint could be seen in some of the entrances to the houses. In fact, there were a few places that were protected by the weather that seemed to have the paint on it. The griffins speculated that it wasn't really paint, but none of them said it.

"They're all gone…" Rylen mumbled under his breath. He didn't know what he expected. Really? What could he expect? He felt his chest tighten as he walked around. Nothing but silence. The mayor had killed everyone over the years. Either that or they left, but by the looks of the way the houses were, it was doubtful that any of them even succeeded in leaving. He could hear the screams in the abck of his head already.

Shiloh wanted more than anything to ask what happened, but she only found herself covering her mouth as she stared in horror. No wonder he was scared. He was part of some sort of mass murder or something along those lines.

"It didn't happen all at once," Rylen said in a stiff voice, knowing that his guild mates were confused. Besides, talking would help him keep it together at this point. "The head of the village killed everyone off, killing the least wealthy first. I was young… I didn't know about it until…." His voice broke and he let out a long sigh. "…Until he killed my parents… He… He let me go in exchange for my arm… I. Don't know why…. He probably thought I wouldn't live through the night since I was pretty cut up and missing an eye, too."

All three of the mages that were with Rylen nodded in understanding solemnly, not wanting to question anything further.

"Anyway… I can only assume he decided that he wanted everyone dead or something," Rylen explained. He then straightened. "We need to destroy that crystal and get out of here. It stinks."

"Right," Shiloh said.

With that, Rylen led them in the direction of the pull of the crystal, which led them to a massive three story building in the center of the town. The house looked better than the rest of the town and was the only town in the house that wasn't stained. Something felt off. So. Off. Rylen stopped and turned to his teammates. "Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" Shiloh asked.

"I… I don't know…" Rylen admitted, his voice and eyes dropping. "I just feel as though… This crystal… Something about it… Something is definitely not right."

"Do you think we should turn back?" Kai asked.

"Do any of you think anything is off?" Rylen asked.

All three mages exchanged looks and shook their heads.

"Then no," Rylen said. "It's me… I've got to get over this… The past is the past no matter what, that's the way it will stay. This town is empty. That mayor is probably long dead. It's okay." With that, he opened the door and he instantly regretted it.

The door opened into the foyer of the house, where the crystal, black in color, was located on the far side of the room, nestled between two staircases. Hanging from the ceilings were pictures of Rylen's family from his childhood. In a lot of the pictures, a little boy with short cyan hair and sparkly, bright jade eyes stood between or in the arms of a bright blue haired man with dark green eyes and a woman with pale cyan hair and rounded jade eyes. Some photos were of the cyan-haired boy and friends though, all of which had most likely been killed. In the middle, hung a photo of the dead body of the woman, and Rylen lost it.

He fell to his knees, his eye dull. "We've been tricked…." He mumbled under his breath, tears now streaming from his visible eye. "I-I've messed up…" he whimpered pitifully. He could still remember that night like it happened yesterday, even though he always told himself he wouldn't be vengeful. He needed to be happy that he had lived, thanks to Winter, and always told himself to live for his guild, and nothing else.

Shiloh and Kai and fell to their knees with him and put hands on his shoulder, comforting him, even though the sheer cruelty of it had made Shiloh start crying. She tried to breath softly so that Rylen wouldn't hear her, though.

"Who would be so… Cruel?" Marionette hissed dryly. She noted that the crystal wasn't reacting and so she figured that Rylen was right. They had played right into someone's trap and whoever it was, meant to incapacitate one of their teammates through emotions.

The doors shut behind them and there was the sound of locking. Rylen knew he needed to get up to get them out. They needed to retreat and run away, but when he looked up, he saw the pictures again and felt dead inside. He tried to fall forward, but Shiloh caught him and held him close.

"Awweeeee…. How sweet," a voice sounded from the top of the stairs. A slender man with a long, square face that was covered in pepper stubble and dark brown hair that was mostly covered by a top hat began walking down the stairs. He was dressed in a solid black duster and slippers. "Looks like little Rylen, the big, strong mage of Silver Griffin has been reduced to tears, just like that night."

Rylen stiffened and stopped crying. He was alive! No, no, no! Please, god, no! He refused to believe it and kept his head down on Shiloh's shoulders. "He's not real…" he mumbled. "You can't make me believe that he's real…"

Shiloh winced at Rylen's words. She didn't know what to say. She resulted in just running her hand through his hair, not saying anything.

Kai and Marionette stepped forward in front of Shiloh and Rylen, Kai having his sword withdrawn and Marionette with a glowing bow and arrow of light in her hands.

"Oh… You think you're going to be able to protect your friend? Help him run from his past?" the man asked. "You know, I, Mayor Alnon, should have never let this boy live. He's quite the nuisance now. But I think I can change that…"

"You're not getting anywhere near him!" Kai snapped. He wanted to comfort Rylen, but he knew in his heart that the best thing he could do right now was try to protect him by fighting for him.

"Do not continue to move!" Marionette added, readying her bow. She wanted to fire, but she didn't even know what type of magic this man used, if he even used a magic at all. If she reacted hastily, it could end even worse for them.

The man began to laugh so hard that he ended up going into a coughing fit. "How cute. How naïve. I'm going to enjoy watching you four die," he said with a grin. "And just so you know. The gem below me isn't activated, but I can. I doubt you'll be able to get that poor sap to fight in the state that his mind is in. He misses his mommy and daddy too bad to do anything."

"Go to hell!" Kai growled. He stepped forward, but stopped when he saw Marionette shake her head, he stopped. He wanted to destroy this sick man.

"Let's talk," the man said, leaning on the stairwell. "I've got four little griffins at my will. I can't help but to talk." He cleared his throat. "First… Did you know how I found out about you four being in the mountains."

No one answered him.

"Lord Eyren is my colleague… He betrayed you. Set you up," the man explained with a devious grin, showing rotten teeth. "He was getting so annoyed that he couldn't get you to come here sooner, so he kept insisting on it. Not that it matters if you destroyed a few more gems than we expected. We got absorb some very powerful magic… And we even got some from your friends."

"What?!" Kai snapped.

"Oh… You didn't know?" Mayor Alnon asked. "That stupid bitch Winter sent more griffins to help. They destroyed a crystal, so we got some very pretty much from them. They'll probably be here soon."

Kai growled while Marionette furrowed her brows. Shiloh bit her lip to prevent herself from saying something. She needed to comfort Rylen right now, and the news that the man brought him seemed to make him cry even more.

"Anyway…. Let's change the subject," the man said, clearing his throat. "Do you know anything about me? Have your precious guild masters ever mentioned a man named Byron Alnon?"

The griffins only glared.

"Well, I'm about thirty years younger than those hags, but I was a member of Silver Griffin when I was a kid," he said. "You see…. I joined to kill my father because he left me with my bitch of a mother. My father was in love with Crystal, and the stress from it really messed her up, I heard. I think she lost a child that she was bearing and everything… Saddening, really…"

"I can't hold back," Kai hissed, the veins on his head swelling, sweat forming at his hairline. "He's gotta pay for what he's done to our guild…"

Marionette wanted to tell him not to, but she couldn't find it in her. She was calm on the outside, but she, too wanted to fire her bow. Patience was really not her thing.

Rylen stopped crying and pulled away from Shiloh, forcing himself to keep his eyes on the ground as he stepped forward. "What do you want?" he asked in a flat voice. He was forcing himself not to think about anything at that moment. He doubted he would be able to fight right now, but he would at least talk.

"Oh, so he stands," Mayor Alnon stated, clapping slowly. "And whatever do you mean, boy? I just want you and your friends to visit with me."

"If I let you kill me like you want, will you let my friends go, please?" Rylen asked, ignoring the bewildered glances he got from his teammates. "I'm the longest living S-class mage of Silver Griffin right now. You can take me hostage and sell me for a bounty to fighter rings that need strong mages if you want, just let them go. This isn't their fight."

"Oh, but isn't it?" Mayor Alnon asked, amusement in his voice. "Isn't that why you brought so many mages with you, because you're not strong enough to cope with your past. Because you're just a little boy who's full of pain?"

"Piss off," Rylen said dryly. "I made you the offer, now take it and let my teammates go."

"Did you ever tell them that you're scared of fire?" Mayor Alnon asked, holding up his hand out as a small heart of fire appeared in his hands. The fire was dark red in color.

Rylen refused to look. "Doesn't matter. Let them go." He reiterated. "I know you want me and I refuse to endanger them anymore."

"I'm not leaving," Shiloh stated, stepping forward. "So there's no reason to try to play the martyr."

"Yeah, seriously," Kai agreed. "You really think we'll just let you sacrifice yourself for us? Griffins fly in a flock, bro."

"Foolish, selfish thinking of you, Rylen," Marionette pointed out in a matter-of-fact voice.

Rylen glared at the ground, but he really didn't have strength to attempt to argue with them. Instead, he let out a small sigh and spoke to his team. "We have to fight. There's no way he going to just let us get away."

"You know, this crystal is just going to send all kinds of delightful demon shadows out if you attack me," Mayor Alnon pointed out. While his voice still held the deranged happy tone to it, his eyes glinted with fear. It was obvious that he hadn't expected for the griffins to actually stand and fight.

"We'll destroy it," Rylen said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Fine!" the older man finally snapped, his eyes widening, a vein swelling on his forehead. "Be that way! I'll laugh when you're all dead!"

With that, the crystal, which was a flat, oval shaped crystal that rotated, began to glow at its core and many small, black spirits with glowing purple eyes and devious grins began to appear around the griffins. They snickered at them and then began to attack, circling them and clawing at them with tiny claws or stabbing their horns into them.

"Light Magic: Sunflare Buster!" Kai shouted as his sword burst into pale green light and he swung it around him, rotating three hundred and sixty degrees as he did so. The little demons that he hit disappeared, but the ones who dodged hit him. The moment he was hit, he realized something; they weren't doing actual damage, but he felt his magic depleting even quicker than the last time.

"Light Magic: Balle!" Marionette announced, shooting bullets of white light at the demons. She, too, could feel her magic being tugged away at a quick rate.

Shiloh pulled out Maleficent's key and after calling her to the world, twisted it in the air.

The witch appeared and turned to Shiloh, glaring. "My… Have you been calling on me a lot, my servant…" she hissed. However, she looked around at all the little shadow spirits and let out a sigh, zapping a few of them with lightning. When they all began to attack her, she turned back to Shiloh, malice in her eyes. "What have you summoned me to into?!"

"Sorry!" Shiloh responded. She had already begun to fight with her tonfas and was slicing through the demons and destroying them.

Rylen pulled his battle ax, made from the void, from one of his void portals and began to swing at the shadows, ignoring everything around him. He kept his eyes towards the ground and his head focused on every little swing that he made. However, when he felt his magic dropping, he turned to his team. "We need to destroy the crystal, now. They only attack magic, so the faster we destroy this thing, the faster we'll be able to get out of here!"

"Right!" All three of the mages responded.

Kai charged forward and slammed his sword into the crystal, gritting his teeth at the horrible screeching grind that the metal of his sword made against the surface of the gem. He pumped as much magic as he could into the sword to damage it.

"Light Magic: Dague!" Marionette stated firmly, pulling two daggers of light from a magic circle. She then swiftly made her way to the gem and began to strike it.

Rylen jumped in with his ax, putting all of the strength that he could into destroying it.

Shiloh began to attack with her tonfas while Maleficent shot a bolt of purple lightning at it.

The gem soon began to crack in multiple places and when Rylen noticed this, he said, "I'm going to use my magic on everyone when it shatters."

Everyone nodded in response, and when the gem burst into black sparkles, Rylen grabbed everyone and took them into his void, holding them there for a few minutes. When he dropped his magic, the crystal was gone and the house was silent.

"That was easier than expected," Kai pointed out with a grin. Sure, he felt like he was low on magic, but they had managed to take down another crystal.

"Moron," Marionette mumbled under her breath.

"We're not supposed to destroy the crystals…" Rylen explained in a low voice. "It's some kind of ploy. We had to destroy that one because of what it was doing."

"Would it not have been better to just leave?" Shiloh said, nodding towards Maleficent at she disappeared.

"We can't… There's some sort of force-field up," Rylen pointed out, nodding at the walls, where if one looked closely, they would see the faint glow of some sort of script magic.

"When did you notice that?" Kai asked.

"When we were fighting the crystal," Rylen said. He had lifted his head up once, trying to at least be a little bit strategic in the fight, even if everything around him made him feel sick. "It seemed to glow brighter when the demons were destroyed, so I thought it was connected to the crystal, but it seems I was wrong."

"So, we're trapped in here until the mayor wants to let us go?" Shiloh inquired.

"Seems that way."

"Bravo!" Mayor's Alnon's voice sounded as he came from upstairs again. He had apparently vanished during their fight. "I was really hoping to get you four lower on magic with that little trick, but it doesn't matter. Lord Eyren is the best script mage in ages. You won't be able to get through this, but your friends will be able to come in when they get here."

Kai growled at the man, readying his sword again. "We're going to destroy you and that stupid traitor!"

"Oh, dear… Did I really do something that wrong?" Lord Eyren appeared from one of the hallways, leaning on his cane. "It really was fun having you over, griffins."

"What the hell is your intention anyway?" Kai growled.

"Hm…?" Lord Eyren arched a brow. "Did you not tell them about our guild, Alnon?" he asked.

"Oh, right… Right!" Alnon cleared his throat. "I am the master of a guild that I like to call Dusk Hydra. We run these mountains, I'd like to think."

"You know, if you want to leave your guild and join, all of the fighting could be over," Lord Eyren suggested.

"In your dreams!" Kai snapped. With that, he lost it and charged forward, clearing the staircases in one leap and swinging his blade at Mayor Alnon.

Lord Eyren quickly wrote some cursive-type letters in the air with his fingers and as Kai collided with the barrier, pain pulsed though his entire body and he groaned as he fell back, but he quickly became alert again when Mayor Alnon grabbed him and pulled him up next to him.. "Alora, sweetie. Can you come in here?"

"Yes, grandpa!" A female's voice could be heard in the room to the left of Mayor Alnon. After a moment, a female of average height and a mostly concealed body skipped into the room. She had sky blue hair that was straight and fell down to her waist, with bangs that made a straight line across her forehead and a lock on each side of her chin. Her skin was pale, like Mayor Alnon, and she had bale caramel eyes with pale lashes. She was dressed in a dark blue cloak that covered all of her body to her knees, and then white and light blue striped stockings could be seen, along with dark blue platform shoes that added two inches to her height to give her the average height that she had. She looked around and then clapped her hands together. "Are they gonna be joining us, grandpa?"

"No, Alora, they refused," Mayor Alnon explained. "I want you to use your magic on the boy that I'm holding."

Kai was struggling to get away, but every time he did, the script magic in the air flashed and pain surged through his body, making him groan and wince.

Marionette called forth her bow and arrow of light, but as she did, Alora used her magic.

"Arrest Magic: Lock-down Verdict!" she commanded, placing a hand on Kai's shoulder.

In an instant, a magic circle appeared around Kai and his arms were restrained behind his back, making him drop his sword, and he felt all of his magic drain.

"And now, for safe measures," Alora said, pulling a pair of magic-binding hand-cuffs from her cloak and slapping them on Kai's wrist. "Can I say it, can I?" she asked her grandfather, her face lighting up. When Mayor Alnon smiled and nodded, she turned to the other three griffins, making Kai stand and holding his arm. "We have one of your members, griffins! Surrender yourself to us or we will take lethal action!"

"Oh, Kai… Such an idiot," Marionette sighed, dropping her magic and folding her arms across her chest.

Kai, after a moment of thought, decided to try to use his charms on Alora. "Hey, you know… You could always free me and just go on a date instead!"

Alora shot him an evil glare and called out, "Arrest Magic: Silence!", making a magic circle appear over Kai's mouth for a moment for fading.

When Kai tried to speak again, nothing would come out. His head then dropped and he thought about what he could do. He knew that trying to kick or fight would only end in more injuries and he definitely wasn't going to use any magic with two magic bindings on his already low reserves.

As if to make things worse, Fame, Vesta, Ryuuga and Julius burst through the doors, which instantly shut behind them.

"It took us forever to find you-" Vesta was about to complain, but she stopped when she saw the photos and then the entire scene that was going on here. Her eyes twitched and she took a step back.

"Welcome to the party, griffins," Alnon said with a smile. "Glad you could show up in time."

"Attack and this one gets it!" Alora stated with a grin, tugging at Kai's arm. "And I doing good, grandpa?" she asked, turning back to the mayor.

"You are, dear," Mayor Alnon responded warmly.

"Bunch of screw-ups. Winter shoulda just came to us in the first place," Fame hissed, flipping his hair of his eyes.

Rylen's eyes dropped at the comment and he let out a small sigh. Fame was absolutely right. This entire mission was going to end badly and in the end, the only one to blame was him. If Winter had asked the other team instead, none of this would be happening. He had failed.

"That wasn't nice, Jace," Shiloh pointed out firmly.

"Yeah, I'm not a nice person," Fame responded, rolling his eyes. He then turned to his team. "We're going to attack, right?"

"If a griffin can't handle a bit of pain, then they shouldn't be one, anyway," Ryuuga said, stepping forward. "I say we fight anyway."

"Alright," Vesta said with a smirk, punching her right fist into her palm.

"Are you three going to fight as well?" Julius asked in an almost condescending tone, looking over at Rylen, Marionette and Shiloh.

"Let me get him, first," Rylen said. He wasn't sure if his plan would work, but he was going to try it. He should have reacted and did this sooner. He was definitely not on his game today and he was terrified that his guild members were going to pay for it. He used his magic and teleported over to Kai. With one firm push, he pushed the man over the stairs, grabbed his sword, and was about to port back, when his magic was canceled, making him fall to the ground in front of Alnon and Alora.

Kai hit the ground hard, rolled and scrambled to his feet. He was still bound and couldn't talk, but he made his way back to Shiloh and Marionette, flashing them a lopsided grin before turning his attention to Rylen.

"Len…" Shiloh mumbled under her breath.

Alora grabbed him and called out "Arrest Magic: Lockdown Verdict!"

However, instead of his hands being bound, his right arm shattered into magic dust, freeing his other hand from being his back. "Cuffs don't work on me!" he pointed out, turning and swinging Kai's sword with one arm, sending Alnon over the stairs as well. "Attack!" he commanded his fellow griffins.

Eyren tried to react fast enough to put a barrier around Rylen and around Alnon, but in an instant, Marionette was behind him. "Light Magic: Strike-Through!" she called, sending a beam of light bursting through one of his shoulders. Sure, she felt like she could probably kill this man with no remorse, but she knew the pain that that would bring Winter, and decided not to.

Eyren winced at the pain, turned back and attempted to spit in Marionette's face.

Marionette glared at him and dodged the spit. "How rude!" she snapped, punching him in the face and causing him to fall to the ground with a whimper. She then proceeded to dust her fist off and look at how the rest of her guild mates were doing.

Lord Alnon pulled himself to his feet, holding the large gash that was now in his side. Fame and Vesta were on him in an instant, Vesta striking him with her glowing white katanas and Fame punching in the face with a lightning coated fist.

"GRANDPA!" Alora cried out, tears filling her eyes.

Rylen turned to Alora. She seemed too innocent for him to want to fight, but he knew he needed to do something, so he dropped Kai's sword and grabbed her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and holding her close to him. "Don't cast any magic or I will be the one taking action!" he mumbled into her ear.

She whimpered and nodded. However, he didn't tell her not to talk, so she yelled out "HELLLPPPP!"

In an instant, a man was in the room. He was dressed in a black tunic that had a v-neck , with one of the sleeves being long and the other being nonexistent, along with lavender capris pants and bandages around his feet. He had pale green hair that was shaven on one side, with the other side combed over his face, and his eyes were charcoal with long, pale lashes. He had sickly pale skin and there was a huge "349" on the shaven side of his head in bold numbers. He grabbed Rylen's jaw and made their eyes meet, gripping so that Rylen's mouth opened. He breathed out a dark purple fume that traveled into Rylen's mouth and nose.

Rylen tried to force himself not to breath, but it didn't help. Within seconds, his body burned and the world began to spin. He loosened his grip on the girl and tried to stay afoot. "Guys… Run…" he slurred before he blacked out.

"Len!" Shiloh called. She pulled Cain's key from her ring, but before she could call out to him, he appeared.

"You need me?" Cain asked politely, bowing slightly at Shiloh.

"'We've got to stop the two up there," Shiloh explained, pointed to where Rylen now lay limp.

Cain nodded, but before he could even have time to react, Alora called out, "Arrest Magic: Seal!" and a beam of white and blue light shot from her palm and hit Cain, making him disappear. "Celestial mages don't work against me!" she taunted. "My magic is meant to shut down my opponents through my orders! The battle field is like my court!"

Shiloh glared at the spot where Cain used to be before she darted forward and decided that she was going to have to work with force.

A magic circle appeared under Ryuuga, who had taken aim at the green-haired man. When the dark magenta light disappeared, he had silver, metallic wings on his back and a silver gauntlet on his right hand.

"Are those the wings you found?" Julius asked, now in his Hellhound Takeover, his body blazing.

"Yeah. Just need three more pieces to this armor," Ryuuga responded. He knew that the Kaiser armor came with wings, a gauntlet, boots, pants, and a helmet. It didn't have an upper-body piece, as it was designed to for speed and mobility. He flew into the air, his wings batting out little gusts a wind as he moved.

Alora lifted her hand, but the man pushed it down. "Let me handle this!" he said in a soft voice. He then hopped into the air, grabbing Ryuuga's fist as he punched, seemingly unfazed as his hand was cut up by the sharp winds from the gauntlet. His arm smoked instead of bleeding, but the smoke was clear. "Sleep…." He hissed to Ryuuga, the same purple fumes coming from his mouth.

Ryuuga turned his head and attempted to shake the man off of his hand, eventually succeeding, the sheer force of the wind from his gauntlet causing the man to hit to the ground with such an impact that the floor cracked.

"Nevan!" Alora cried, leaning over the railing of the stairs with tears in her eyes once again.

"Fine, be that way!" the man hissed as his breath began to fill the room, a purple cloud forming as he breathed out. "I wanted to play, but all of you can rot, for all I care!"

Julius charged and attempted to punch the man, not breathing as he did so. His fiery fist collided with the man's stomach, lifting him up and throwing him into the air.

Fame reacted now, appearing over him with his entire arm crashing into the man's back.

The man landed on the ground after this and for a moment, he didn't move. The purple fumes were starting to dissipate and the griffins had succeeded in not breathing for the short amount of time. After a few seconds, he started laughing lowly.

"Don't do it!" Alora screeched, surprising all of the griffins. "Please, don't!"

"Do it, Nevan!" Alnon called weakly. He was still on the ground, but he had a devious smile on his face.

"PLEASE, NO!" Alora continued to scream, her hands on either side of her head, tears streaming down her face. "WHY DO THEY HAVE TO, GRANDPA?!"

"God, her screeching…" Vesta winced, her head pulsing just from the noise.

"Bye, everyone. It was fun!" Nevan said with a smile and wave. With that, a black magic circle appeared on his chest and after a moment, he blew up with a loud pop. There wasn't blood or guts, only dark purple fumes.

Alora continued to scream and cry. "WHY?! WHY!?"

The runes that were around the building shone and with a swipe of his hand, Eyren removed one of the rooms so that the fumes would now impact Alora.

Alora felt as the fumes burned her body and with a small whimper, she fainted.

"We'll have to modify her mind, Alnon." Eyren pointed out. "She's going to desert us if we don't. Those things are her friends, apparently."

"Yeah… I wish she wouldn't get so attached to the experiments," Alnon sighed. "Then again, Nevan was around for a couple of years and he was so close to her age when we got him…" He then smirked as he watched the griffins.

All of them were making sure not to breath, but all of them were starting to pale, with their faces turning blue and purple.

Fame attempted to punch Mayor Alnon, but when he did, he accidentally breathed in, and almost instantly, he passed out, hitting the ground hard.

Shakily, Shiloh pulled out Cain's key, tears in her eyes. She couldn't escape, but she knew that Cain would at least find a way to call for help. All she had to do was touch his key, even if he couldn't come because he had been bound recently, he would know that she needed him and hopefully, he would get the message. _Help, please, Cain. We've been captured Tell others._ She thought loudly before she blacked out.

Marionette and Kai were both watching the place where Nevan had been standing, horror and confusion in their eyes. There were no signs that the man even existed. And what did the two older men mean by "experiments"? Kai had less time to ponder this as he couldn't even cover his mouth with his hands bound. He grimaced as he fell to the ground.

Marionette attempted to make a dome around herself, but it didn't help at all. She still found herself hitting the ground after a few more minutes.

Vesta was glad that they had decided to leave the Exceeds outside. With her last bit of breath, she called out "STELLA! RUN FOR HELP!" in one long sentence. She then passed out with a small cough.

Ryuuga punched at the air to keep it away from him and Julius, the last two standing, but he wasn't succeeded. In fact, trying this made it worse, as he ran out of air faster and with one gasp for air, he hit the floor.

_Dammit._ Julius thought as he looked around him. He decided to go for the same route that Fame had and turned to Alnon. He threw a fiery punch at him, colliding with his face and searing it before his mind forced him to at least try to breath, causing his world to go black.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Phew! The drama in that chapter, man! I hope you guys enjoyed it. I loved writing it and I know there are tons and tons of questions right now. I'm going to try to address some of them right now._

_1. No spoilers for anyone. If you review with a spoiler-seeking question, I won't address it. ; n ; These are things like "What's gonna happen to the griffins?", "What is Nevan and what do those numbers mean?", "Why did the griffins mess up by attacking the crystals?", "What were the crystals", "What's gonna become of the town of Yarrow?", etc. _

_2. I WILL be accepting OCs for Hydra Dusk. Not right now, though. I need to make the form and reveal a bit more about the guild right now. DON'T send me OCs for it, yet. If you wanna run your ideas by me, feel free to. _

_Anyway, I'm sure there are more questions and I'll address them. I need to address some other things now._

_-I'm really sorry that the beginning of last chapter was confusing. I promise all characters will soon be shown enough to be memorable. I plan to have them breaking off into teams in the next arc, and there will just be a few teams, and each chapter will focus on one team, so yeah._

_-Also, so surprised that Fortune went over well. X3 Sorry he wasn't in this mission more. I need him for something else and he's not a member yet. D:_

_-This chapter was gorier originally, like, bad. And I was even gonna do a flashback of that night for Rylen, but that would have undoubtedly made this fic M rated, so I fixed it. If you still think it's too gruesome, tell me._

_-I know some people don't like sad backstories, especially ones where the entire village is destroyed. Rylen is the only OC in this story that has a backstory this bad and it was made for this for plot. Also, he's not the type that wants to destroy every dark guild and actually quite appreciative of life, so at least that makes it a little bit better, right…? I'm really sorry if this makes him unlikeable… ; n ; _

_-All characters in this story introduced are made by me._

_-We've got 1 or 2 more chapters left in this arc and it should be finished by the end of this week! :D_

_-My computer bugged out when editing this! If something seems off, like paragraphs missing or something, tell me!_

**_REVIEW RESPONSES!_**

**_Thank you so much as always! So much love from me! Sorry if I confused or disappointed last chapter!_**

_Puffypuffin3 – Sorry about those detail issues, once again. ; n ; AHHHHGGG. The puns. You're gonna kill me. D: I'm really happy you liked the chapter and that Fortune went over well. :3_

_La Maitresse' Dame – Hahaha… I like clichés and I thought of making the Fame and Fortune duo for a bit. XD I'm really, really sorry for the confusion. I tried to make a lot of the guild interact, but I honestly think it would've been better to have started out with teams and missions, as it would have introduced people better. Next arc will consist of teams, so it will be much better and after that, all of the characters should have made an impression, unless they're just not a personality/magic type you like/find interesting. ^^; I'm happy that overall, you enjoyed the chapter, though. :3_

_Nicky Azure – Sorry about not showing Fortune and Shiloh meeting. D: I need him for something else. And I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. I considered not bringing back Winter's punishments, as they sometimes push the T rating a bit, but they're really funny, so I decided to._

_Barrett M107 – Thank you~ I feel a bit unconfident with him, honestly. Not sure why he feels hard to write. I'm sure I'll get over it, though. :3 Yeah. That was part of the point of the guild fight. I know I've not been giving some characters as much attention, though everyone will get attention next arc. Really sorry about the chaotic-ness. ; n ; I think my introduction arc was kinda bad this time, honestly, but at least it's out of the way, almost. Yeah. I wanted to make a magic that was fun for Fortune, as I imagine him overall being arrogant, but somewhat playful, still. Glad you liked the chapter~_

_FanO'theNinja121 – Winter's punishments are always fun~ I hope to get the opportunity to work in more of them soon. It's more of a big-brother relationship with those two. :3_

_DarkHyena – Yeah. I hope I portrayed a little bit of Mercy's magic right. I plan to show her in full combat soon enough. :3 Glad you enjoyed the chapter._

_Vaerith – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. Math can be really mean, haha. _

_FairyTailWolf6 – I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint, either. :3_

_Reven228 – I'm really happy you enjoyed all of the chapter and Varis will make more appearances soon. I really can't wait to get the next chapter or two done so that I can move to something else. :3_

_JustanSpecialist – I'm really glad that you enjoyed the chapter! I hope this one didn't disappoint, either. I'm a no life when I don't have school, that's how I write so fast, hehe. X_X _


	10. Chapter 10

**October 7****th****, around 8pm. **

Fortune made it back to Nadeshiko with little trouble, other than the fact that something was itching at the back of his mind that he should have stayed with Fame and his team. He felt like he had made a pretty bad mistake by leaving them behind like he did. "Damn," he cursed to himself as he passed the welcome sign to Nadeshiko. He planned on going and showering before joining up with Silver Griffin, but first, he stopped at the Starlit Patio, after combing his fingers through his hair and adjusting his jacket. He didn't look that dirty, so he was sure that the man who ran the place would let him stay.

He sat down at one of the tables and rang the bell, which was to call a waitress to the table. The restaurant was set up this way so that waiters wouldn't bother the people who just decided to sit down and rest at the patio, which was allowed as long as all of the seats weren't taken.

After the waitress, a small woman with pixie-styled brown hair and large olive colored eyes took his order and left, he began to look around. He stopped and his eyes focused on the waitress, who was stopped by two average height, blacked haired men with backpacks on their backs after leaving his table.

"Do you know where Silver Griffin is?" the first of the two men asked. His hair covered his ears and the name of his neck, with bangs that covered his brows in a slightly messy style. The ends of his bangs looked as if they were dipped in bright cerulean paint, which matched his round, cheerful cerulean eyes. He had an athletic build that could be seen under his black hoodie, which was left unzipped to reveal a dark blue t-shirt, a bright sapphire shark pendant hanging from a silver chain, and the cords to bright blue earbuds, which were not currently in his ears, but rather resting on the outside of them. He was dressed in black jeans and black and white shoes with bright blue laces. His skin was tanned as if he had been in the sun too long, and over all, he gave the appeal of a swimmer.

The second of the two didn't say anything. He had his arms tucked behind his head tilted back, his charcoal gray, almond shaped eyes on the sky. His hair was a bit shorter than his friends, leaving his fairly normal brow and some of his forehead exposed. It covered about half of his ears and fell in a mess with lots of random locks flipping around. His skin tone was about the same as his friend's and there was a horizontal scar across the bridge of his nose. He was dressed in a black t-shirt under a gray sleeveless hoodie, beige pants and gray sneakers. There was a forest colored bandana around his right forearm. He looked uninterested in the conversation.

"I'm sorry, I wouldn't know," the waitress responded, hugging herself. "I just moved here last week and I don't really have any interests in guilds or anything like that."

"Oh, I see…" the man who had originally spoke said, his eyes dropping to the ground. "Well, thank you!" he said with a bright smile.

As the two boys turned to walk away, Fortune cleared his throat and said, "Excuse me. If you're looking for Silver Griffin, I can tell you how to get there."

The men both turned and the cerulean eyed one's face lit up. "Really? That would be awesome!" he said, walking over to Fortune.

Fortune then began to explain the street location of Silver Griffin. However, it was a fair distance away, if one considered how many turns they would have to take, and his voice awkwardly slowed when he saw the confusion and sweat drop of the blue-eyed boy. "Sorry… After I eat, I can take you there or something," he said lamely.

"That would be really nice of you," the man said. "I'm Cole, by the way. Are you a mage of Silver Griffin?"

"Not yet," Fortune responded. "I left town for a few years to train, but I'm from around here, so I know of the guild. The name's Fortune, by the way."

The two men sat down across the table from Fortune, and when the charcoal eyed one said nothing, Cole elbowed him in the side, ignoring the mean look that the man gave him.

"Oh, right," the man said, his voice amplifying the fact that he was pretty bored with his surroundings. "I'm Quin. Thanks and stuff."

Fortune laughed at the man's attitude. He then took a coin out and began to flip it, as he tended to do when he was in thought. "What kind of magic do you two use?"

"I use water magic," Cole said with a small laugh, fiddling with his shark pendant. "That's a simple way of putting it, anyway."

"Air-Make," Quin responded.

"What about you?" Cole asked.

"I use Casino magic," Fortune said. "I find that I'm pretty lucky, normally, so why not base my magic around it?"

"That sounds dangerous," Quin commented.

"It does sound like things could go badly if it's really gambling," Cole agreed.

Before they could say anything else, the waitress asked if Cole or Quin would like anything and once they ordered, left again.

"Where are you two from?" Fortune asked, trying to start conversation. He had been silent for a few moments, just flipping his coin and staring at it intently.

"We're really not from anywhere specifically," Cole explained. "Quin's never really told me where he was from, but we met one day during my traveling and after helping him get rested up, we started traveling together." The waitress brought their food out and he paused until she left. "My father told me to join a lesser known guild and he suggested Silver Griffin because one of the guild masters is apparently really lenient on who she lets join."

Quin just listened while they talked, focusing more on his food than the conversation.

"Yeah, I've heard that before, I think," Fortune said, thinking about how much his parents would complain about Winter's leniency and just letting any rat call Nadeshiko home. He sweat-dropped at how much his parents really hated Silver Griffin, now that he thought about it. He wondered if they would even talk to him once he got his guild-mark.

"So, why are you joining Silver Griffin?" Cole asked.

Fortune thought about his question. Why was he? So that he could be around Fame again? Because now that he had met Fame's team, he was certain he could find a place in the guild? "I've met a few of the members and they're pretty awesome," he eventually said with a grin.

* * *

><p>After they finished eating, Fortune led Quin and Cole to Silver Griffin, finding it with ease. He thought about how many times over the years before he left that he had stood in front of the building, gotten anxiety and then left. He wasn't doing it this time. He was sure of it. "Let's do this," he said. He then walked up the wooden stairs and pushed the doors open.<p>

Inside, the guild hall was fairly empty again, most of the mages spending the early afternoon there and then going home or getting a mission or something. However, Winter was at the bar with three females, one of which was Cecil and the other two who looked a bit younger than the mages that were usually seen around Silver Griffin.

The first of the girls was the smaller of the two, probably standing at 5'3'', and she was propped up against the bar with a piece of pocky sticking out of her mouth. Her hair was a deep, midnight color and tied in a braid on either side of her head, with bangs that swept to the left, covering her left brow. There were multicolored steaks all through her hair that consisted of reds, blues, silvers, and greens and made her braids look quite colorful. Her eyes were naturally narrowed with dark lashes. They appeared blue in the color, but many different specks of colors could be seen in them. Her face and lips were both heart shaped and her complexion was pale, making her rosy lips stick out a bit. She was thin with a subtle amount of curves. She was dressed in a blue denim half-jacket that stopped right under her bosom and was left open to reveal a white tank-top and a silver heart locket that hung from a very thin chain around her neck. She also had a frilly blue skirt, knee-high white stockings with a bit of frills, blue lace-up boots that stopped mid calve and blue leather fingerless gloves. She didn't show much interest in the men when they walked in.

The second girl had her elbows propped up against the bar, with some sort of dual-screen game lacrima that she was pressing buttons rapidly on. Her hair was satin like and pure black in color, falling to the middle of her back and her bangs covered her brows in a straight line. Her eyes were a very pale blue and her skin was pale white as well. She was about two inches taller than the other girl, but she was thinner and had a lot less curves. Her legs were mostly where her extra height came from. She was dressed in a faded gray hoodie with black horizontal stripes on the sleeves and a black hood, over black short shorts which were not visible due to the fact that the hoodie was huge on the small girl. Her legs were covered with black knee high stockings and worn black and white sneakers. Her hoodie was only partially zipped, revealing a black and gray horizontally striped t-shirt.

"Yes?" Winter asked when she saw the three men. "Most of my mages have left for the night, but if you have a request, you can leave it here."

Fortune found himself too nervous to talk when Winter's eyes met his, but luckily, Cole started talking.

"Actually, we were looking to join as mages of the guild," he said in a cheerful voice with a bright smile.

Fortune and Quin nodded in agreement.

Winter's eyes widened and she leaned back against the bar. "Cecil, I may need you to hold me. My record has been broken again… So soon…" she spoke in a fake dramatic voice, holding her forearm against her forehead.

Cecil laughed lightly. "It's quite nice, isn't it? Will this be five members in one day?"

"Yes, dear," Winter said, nodding excitedly. "Now, dearies, why don't you three come over here so I can give you your guild marks? I'm old and it's late so I'm afraid it would be a lot of trouble for me to move…"

"Of course," Cole said. He stepped forward, with Fortune and Quin following them. "I'm Cole, by the way."

"I'm F-Fortune," Fortune stammered out. His nerves were coming back. He had worked so hard to get rid of them. Fame was going to make fun of him if he heard him stammer. He swallowed and told himself that everything would be okay and he would not stammer again.

"Quin," Quin introduced himself with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm Elizabeth, and this is Isoko," the girl with braids said, nodding towards the other girl. "She's not going to talk to you because she's in the middle of a game."

"I'm Cecil! It's nice to meet you!" Cecil said with a cheerful wave.

"Is it a challenge not to mess her up?" Fortune asked, arching a brow. He had to be cool, and teasing people would give him that "cool" affect, right? He walked slowly over to the girl, who tensed her shoulders.

"I. Will. Kill. You," she growled, putting emphasis on every word.

Fortune held his hands up in defense and backed up. He then turned his head to see Winter staring at him.

"You look like a hoodlum," she commented.

"Eh?!" Fortune blinked in surprise. He didn't know how to react. He then remembered that he had lost his train of thought after meeting Cole and Quin and forgot to shower. He found himself wondering if she would even let him join.

"Fortune is actually really nice. He helped us to find the guild," Cole explained. He had just gotten his guild mark, which was bright purple and on the back of his left hand. He was staring at it with admiration.

Quin was now getting his guild mark, which was being placed on the back of his right shoulder-blade and was dark green in color. Once he got it, he sat down at the bar, propping up on one of his hands. He and Cole had spent at least a couple of months traveling and it was good to have finally made it to his destination. He was now a member of a legal guild.

"Where do you want your guild mark?" Winter asked Fortune. When he shot her a questioning look, she said, "Just because you remind me of one of my hoodlums doesn't mean I'm not gonna let you join."

Fortune pointed to the left side of his neck. "Gold, I guess," he said with a shrug. He felt the cool sting of Winter's magic and then rubbed his neck. "And is the guild member you're talking about Fame?" he asked with a small laugh.

"Yes," Winter responded, arching a brow.

"He's my cousin," Fortune explained. "I'm assuming you're saying that we favor when you say I look like a hoodlum…"

Winter let out a sigh. "As long as you don't take after him, we'll be okay," she said, patting his shoulders and leaning back against the bar.

"So… As I was going to ask, why are there no missions on the board right now?" Elizabeth asked, turning back to Winter once Fortune and Cole sat at the bar on the other side of Quin.

"There are missions, but due to a letter I received… I feel as though all of the guild members may need to be here soon… I plan to put them back up by the fifteenth, if not," Winter responded.

"So… What if we need money before then?" Isoko asked in a small voice. She had put her game away and sounded completely different than when she had spoken with Fortune.

"Many of our guild members live in the dorms and if they have problems, I won't kick them out," Winter said. "I will assure that this will not hurt any of my members."

"What's going on?" Cole asked.

"There seems to be problems in the mountains near here," Winter said.

"I met Fame's team in the mountains a couple of days ago," Fortune said, his back straightening up. "Was the message from them?"

"It wasn't from my members," Winter said. "And what were you doing in the mountains?"

"My parents run an inn and they heard people talking about magic absorbing crystals and I went to investigate," Fortune said. "I actually ran into Fame and helped them take down one of the crystals."

"Was there anything suspicious?" Winter asked. "Tell me all that you know…"

Fortune scratched the back of his neck. "No… I mean. The crystals are hard to take down, even for a team of five mages and it blasted us with magic afterwards. If Ryuuga hadn't had shields, it would have probably destroyed us…"

Winter began to shake at that. "And why didn't you stay with them?"

"Fame told me that would count as endangering civilians and would get the guild in a lot of trouble," Fortune responded. "Also, due to our past together, he doesn't really see me as the strongest person…." He added in a low voice.

"Oh… I hope they're okay… They have to be okay… They're strong!" Winter mumbled under her breath.

"I'm sure they are, Ms. Winter," Fortune said with a small smile. "Fame's team is really strong and I'm sure the team they were going to assist is, too." He felt like this was his fault in some way and wanted to cheer her up.

"Ms. Winter, the note didn't even acknowledge that they seemed to know where the teams were. It could have just been some kind of sick prank," Cecil said. Winter had informed her early that morning that she received the letter and it simply told her that she was going to regret interfering with Hydra Dusk. No one in the guild seemed to know who Hydra Dusk really was.

"You're both right, dearies," Winter said, cheering up just a bit. "I'm sure any day now, they'll all walk back through the doors with good news."

Isoko and Elizabeth exchanged glances, wondering if they had stumbled into a bad situation. However, neither of them said anything.

"If there's anything we can do, let us know!" Cole offered kindly, his voice determined.

"Yep," Quin nodded in agreement.

"Same," Elizabeth said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"We'll t-try our best," Isoko added in.

"My… I do have a knack for recruiting only the finest of mages," Winter commented, tears coming to her eyes. None of them had even been in the guild for a day, but they were willing to fight already.

* * *

><p><strong>October 8<strong>**th****, around 8 am**

"I've never actually been that far into these mountains," Nekane said as she skipped ahead of Tad, Vaerith, Vancha, Bandera and Lucie. They had made it fairly far into the mountains by now and they had caught a glimpse of Fame's team, though they had gone unseen, as they departed from a boy that Bandera and Tad said they didn't recognize. "What about you guys?"

"I'm not from around here," Bandera explained. While everyone else was still dressed in the same clothing, he had changed into a light blue jacket that was made of leather, with white cotton lining, a gray t-shirt tucked into black denim pants that were held up by a brown leather belt, and brown hiking boots. His hair was a bit messier than usual as he hadn't bother to take as much care of it as he would going into work.

"Me either," Vaerith said.

"I don't know these mountains," Vancha replied.

"I've been here on a few missions over time, but I can't say I know them that well," Tad responded.

"Oh, well, I think I'll sense them when we get near them," Nekane said. She then slowed down so that she could talk to Bandera. "So… How did you and Lucie meet?"

Bandera blinked, considering the question for a moment. They had informed Vaerith and Vancha of who Lucie was and both seemed completely accepting of it, which surprised Bandera. "I… I was exploring and I found an old ruins of some sort of temple. There was a small statue of a little girl in it, and when I picked it up, Lucie just seemed to appear."

"That's because you woke me up, you dolt," Lucie hissed, folding her arms across her chest.

"How long were you asleep?" Nekane asked.

"How the heck am I supposed to know that, you witch?!" Lucie snapped.

"Lucie!" Bandera scolded.

"I don't really know…. All I remember is… Is…" Lucie held her temples and tried to think. "I don't really remember anything…. I… I just know that I was woken up."

"Well, maybe you were sealed," Nekane suggested. "And Bandera had some kind of potential to break the seal with his magic, and so he did, unknowingly."

"What would that mean, exactly?" Bandera asked.

"Hm…. I dunno," Nekane replied, shrugging. "I'm just trying to get all of the material that I can to help you, Mr. Bandera."

"Annoying witch," Lucie mumbled, averting her eyes from the group of griffins.

"So… Having that demon attached to him, apart from not being about to use magic, doesn't hurt Bandera at all?" Vaerith asked.

"Not that I can tell," Bandera responded.

"Just because I'm a demon doesn't mean I'm malicious and wanna kill everything in sight, moron!" Lucie snapped. Even if it was faint, there seemed to be some kind of disappointment when she remembered that no one other than Nekane and Bandera were able to see her.

"I don't think it hurts much of anything," Nekane said. "Lucie's not a bad demon. I think she's just lonely…"

"Why must you take up for me when I hate you, witch?!" Lucie hissed.

"Because you won't hate me when I help Bandera and leave you alone, right?" Nekane asked, smiling down at her. "And just because you don't like me doesn't mean I have to dislike you."

"I tried to kill you, though!"

Nekane shrugged. "Isn't there a saying that goes something like 'what doesn't kill me makes me stronger'?" she asked. "Maybe I'm stronger for it… Besides, I've told Tad this, but it's something I remind myself of a lot… I don't hate… Being exposed to dark aura is bad for me."

Lucie opened her mouth to fuss more with Nekane when two screeches for help could be heard from up the mountain path.

"What the hell?!" Vaerith's hands went to his katanas and he tried to see what was up ahead, though he couldn't see over a hill. In a flash, he was dashing ahead.

"Let's go!" Bandera said without thinking, running ahead blindly.

"DOLT!" Lucie screeched, following him, floating as she moved.

"Shouldn't we be a bit strategic…?" Tad called, though his voice faded when he saw Nekane and then Vancha run after Vaerith and Bandera. "Not good…" he mumbled, though he sprinted to catch up.

When they made it to the top of the hill, they saw a very odd looking woman standing, holding two Exceeds, the neck of one in each hand. She was definitely a sight to behold. She was dressed in nothing more than a simple black dress that had the number "333" printed on it in huge white letters. Her hair was silver and spiky, with an electric blue streak on each side. It fell down to the middle of her back. One of her eyes were fuchsia while the other was golden brown. She had a round face and her eyes were narrowed and lifeless. Her skin was sickly pale. She had "333" tattooed on each of her forearms.

Vaerith was the quickest of the group of griffins and, his blades now drawn and surrounded in shadows, he slammed into the woman, making her drop the Exceeds and fall to the ground.

"Aren't you Stella and Nikko?" Bandera asked the Exceeds, who instantly ran to him.

Nikko nodded furiously and Stella said, "We need help! Vesta needs help!"

"What?!" Bandera asked, his eyes widening.

"They… They… I don't know what happened…. They told us to find help…" Stella explained, tears spilling over her eyes as she sobbed, her voice becoming more and more strained as she spoke.

"What's going on?" Tad asked, stopping next to Bandera, finally managing to catch up to his team.

"Where is everyone?" Bandera asked. "Do they all need help?"

Stella nodded, wiping furiously at her eyes. "Cain was with us… But that woman, Three, sent him back to the spirit world…."

"Cain is... One of Shiloh's celestial spirits…?" Bandera asked after straining his mind.

Stella and Nikko nodded.

"We need to help them!" Bandera said, turning back to Tad.

"We have another problem, first…" Tad pointed out.

While they had been talking to the Exceeds, Vaerith was fighting Three, the woman. She had pushed him off of her with ease and fiery red magic circle had appeared under her, causing her body to burst into flames, though her clothes didn't change apart from the collar and gloves that she got. She then proceeded to punch Vaerith, who dodged by tilting his shoulder.

"Isn't that a spell of someone in Silver Griffin?" Tad asked, his brow furrowing.

"Think so…" Bandera said, nodding in agreement. He had seen Vesta's team get into spars in the middle of the guild before, and he was certain that Julius used a Take-Over magic exactly like that.

"Her aura isn't there…." Nekane said in a tiny voice, stepping behind Bandera. "I don't think she's a real person… Or maybe she's dead…."

"She doesn't have one at all?" Bandera asked.

"That's what she said, you idiot!" Lucie snarled.

"No…" Nekane replied. "Nothing…."

"She's strong… She uses the magic that Vesta's team does…" Stella said.

"All of it?" Tad asked. While Vaerith held her off and Vancha waited for an opportunity to attack, Tad tried to come up with a plan.

"I've seen her use at least one spell from all of them," Stella said. "Her armor doesn't look right when she uses Ryuuga's spells…"

Tad continued to think about this, while Vaerith fought. "Could use some sort of help!" he called as he used one of his own blades to block one of Three's Star-Make blades.

Vancha walked forward and pushed Vaerith out of the way, making him fall to the ground with a series of curse words. After the woman cut into his chest with her blades, his right arm began to glow with a purple aura and he punched her in the face, hard, sending her flying.

"That's your magic?" Vaerith asked, standing up. To hit someone with that much force with one simple punch was kind of intimidating.

"Yes," Vancha responded. "I fight and I get stronger," he said. When the woman came charging him again, this time with a solid black gauntlet that she had requiped, he took the punch, not seeming to care as he went flying. He skidded to a stop and his chest and arms began to glow purple.

Three growled, her eyes narrowing even further, as she darted forward, her fist covered in both fire and blue lightning. She threw her fist into Vancha's chest and screeched in pain as she was sent flying, her own body glowing purple for a few moments. She felt as though she had hit herself.

Vaerith slammed his hands into the ground and called "Shadow God's Snare!" he called. As he did this, tendrils of darkness shot up behind Three and caught her, wrapping around her tightly.

"Let me talk to her!" Tad called when he saw Vancha readying himself to move forward. "Keep her snared, Vaerith." His tone had changed to a more commanding tone than normal. He had deduced that if the woman seemed to have the same magic as the other griffins, she probably knew some things about them. He walked over to her, his hands ready in case he needed to use some sort of magic to defend himself. "Have you met any of my guild members?" He then pointed to Nekane. "They'd have a guild mark like she does on her collarbone."

The woman only glared at him, her body bursting into blue lightning as she struggled to try to get away.

"Answer me!" Tad demanded.

The woman only made growling and gurgling noises, glaring at Tad under her eyelids. She was breathing heavily.

Nekane stepped forward, standing beside Tad. "Can you talk, Ms. Three?" she asked in a soft, kind voice.

The woman growled, snapping her sharp teeth at Nekane. She was still in Hellhound Takeover, so the flames around her body heated up and grew.

"We won't hurt you if you help us find our friends," Nekane offered. "We could be friends, Ms. Three."

The woman only continued to snarl.

"She seems almost primal," Bandera noted. "Maybe she can't speak to us." He had walked over and was standing next to Nekane.

"I was really hoping she'd give to Nekane's adorable voice," Vaerith noted. "I hate fighting girls," he admitted.

"Do I attack?" Vancha asked, not reading the situation well.

"No," Tad responded.

"Be careful," Stella warned. "She had no problem against Cain. He tried to talk to her, too, until she made him angry."

"Will you calm down and lead us to the others?" Tad asked once more. When the woman only continued to try to fight Vaerith's snares, Tad sighed. He began to move his hands around in the air to form a sphere, and after a moment, a sphere of water appeared around the girl's head.

Her eyes widened and she released her Take-Over. She struggled harder now, trying to find a way to get out of the sphere.

She didn't succeed, and when it looked as if she might pass out any second, Tad released his magic. "Now… Do you have colleagues, Three?" he asked, his voice void of emotion.

The woman's head dropped and she began to sob pathetically, her entire body going rigid.

"She doesn't even produce an aura when she's sad," Nekane pointed out, her eyes full of worry.

"What do you suggest we do, Nekane?" Bandera asked.

Nekane started to shake her head and tell him that she didn't know, but she didn't have time to, as a black magic circle appeared over Three's chest and after a moment, she blew up. The blast was made of fire, lightning, stars, and darkness and it caused Tad, Bandera and Nekane, who were all close to Three, to go flying backwards, letting out screams of pain.

"Damn!"Vaerith snapped. He then moved to catch Nekane, bridal style, jumping into the air to assure that he would catch her and then landing on his feet.

Vancha saw Vaerith do this and so he ran forward and caught Bandera in one arm and Tad in the other, making the boys' legs overlap awkwardly.

"Thank you, Mr. Vaerith!" Nekane said, wincing at the pain in her body. The front of her dress was burned, making her sash fall to the ground. There was a rip in the dress revealing a bit of her stomach. Her face had burn that extended from her right temple down to the middle of her cheek.

Tad and Bandera, who were both equally as hurt as Nekane, glared at Vancha and then both attempted to get down at the same time. This resulted in Tad kicking Bandera in the face, bruising his jaw. Bandera grabbed his jaw and after groaning, fell out of Vancha's arms onto his back. He groaned and rolled to his elbows. One of the sleeves to his jacket had been destroyed by the blast, revealing a few burns on his arms, and there was a huge horizontal rip in the left knee of his pants. Oh, well, it could have been a lot worse.

Tad climbed out of Vancha's arms and extended a hand down to Bandera. Some of his hair now hung loosely from loosely from the bun and the entire left side of his jacket had been burned off. Luckily, his shirt had taken some of the burn after that, leaving his arm only mildly injured. He had a burn on his forehead and some of his hair was fried.

Bandera took his hand and stood. "That was awkward, Vancha," he said, turning to the purple-haired man, who didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Was it?" Vancha asked. "Vaerith caught Nekane so I thought I needed to catch you two," he said.

Vaerith walked over, still holding Nekane, laughing at the entire situation. "Vancha, you don't seem to know much about… Socializing, do you?"

"Do I?" Vancha asked, tilting his head to the side. He was smiling and his eyes really only held a hint of confusion. He then looked after tilting his head, noticing the weight was off. "Where's Momo?" His eyes then spotted the squirrel, who was sitting on Stella's head as the Exceed flew over.

"Is everyone okay?" Stella asked.

"Yeah, think so," Bandera responded, his eyes turning back to the place where the girl used to be. "But… What was that?"

"It looked like she was set to self-destruct upon being captured," Tad responded. "But…" he didn't want to point it out, but there was no blood or anything. She had exploded into pure magic.

"She wasn't a person," Nekane said, pulling herself out of Vaerith's arms and landing on the ground. "There's no way. She didn't have blood or an aura…"

"What do you suppose then, witch?" Lucie asked, glaring at Nekane. "Are you going to accuse me of being something like her, next?"

"I think she was just made of magic… Like, maybe someone has encountered those members of the guild and…" Nekane tried to think of where she was going, but it was hard for to convey her ideas.

"Someone encountered that team of griffins, absorbed their magic and made a highly powerful being with the magic they absorbed?" Tad finished for her, making her nod. "Thinking back, I wonder if she was even meant to explode because she was captured, or because someone designed her to kill whoever she fought at all costs."

"What would make you say that?" Vaerith asked.

"The aggression, mostly," Tad responded. "I can't say I have a strong basis, but then again, I've never encountered, or even heard about something like that before…"

"She started crying though, before she did it," Nekane pointed out, her brows furrowing. "If she was created from magic, why could she feel pain like that?"

"Maybe crying was a mechanism to pull people to her before she did it," Tad suggested after a moment of thought.

"That would make sense," Bandera said, his eyes dropping to the ground. "I know I didn't feel nearly as threatened when she started crying."

"It seems like such a cruel design!" Nekane pouted, her eyes filling with tears. "Why would someone do something like that?"

"The people that Vesta and her friends were fighting are not nice!" Stella said, landing on Nekane's head. "They… We didn't get to see much of it, but there was a lot of screaming inside the building they were in... WE NEED TO GO SEE IF THEY'RE THERE!"

"Right," Tad said with a nod. "We'll discuss Three when we get back to the guild. Maybe someone there will know something."

~!~!~!

They made it to Allium by nightfall and Stella and Nikko led them to the mayor's house where all the fighting had happened. When Nekane felt the nerves of the Exceeds and Bandera, she began pulsing a calming aura, just a light one, to make sure that no one went into panic.

Tad led the way, opening the door. Instantly, all of the griffins went rigid and Nekane, caught off-guard by the sight, stopping using her magic.

The building looked like it had been bathed in blood. The pictures still hung from the ceilings, but now there were more pictures. Photos of all of the griffins who had partook in the battle, lying in their own blood. The building smelled foul. Vaerith winced and took a step back, Nekane grabbed Bandera's arm and buried her face into his bicep, whimpered, Tad and Bandera stared in horror at the scene, the Exceeds burst into tears, and Vancha walked into the building as if nothing was wrong.

He still had a small smile on his face as he examined a puddle of blood on the floor. He crouched and dipped his fingers in it and then rubbed his index finger against his thumb.

"Dude, what are you doing?!" Vaerith snapped, disturbed by how Vancha was taking the entire scene.

"Not real blood," Vancha stated.

"What is it, then?" Vaerith asked, his disturbance not fading much.

"I dunno," he responded. "It's not real, though." He then stood up and calmly walked over to the area beneath the stairs. He fiddled with something for a few moments and then came back out with a small, yellow lacrima. "It has smelliness in it," he said, bringing it back over to the group, who all stepped back. He had "blood" on both of his hands and the griffins still didn't seem to believe it wasn't real.

However, when he brought the lacrima over, they all began to cough as the smell began to choke them. "What the hell!? Get that away from us!" Vaerith snapped in annoyance. Even through his mask, he could smell it perfectly.

"Okay," Vancha said. He then raised his arm and threw the lacrima out the door, far away.

After a few minutes, the smell in the room faded, and the faint smell of syrup filled the room.

"It's stage blood," Tad said after sniffing the air. He then walked into the house completely. "How could you tell so easily with the smell, too?" he asked, turning to Vancha.

"I've seen lots of blood," Vancha responded bluntly. "Blood is blood. Fake blood is not blood."

"That's… Certainly one way of putting it," Vaerith said with a small, nervous laugh. He found himself wondering why Vancha had seen lots of blood, but he knew that Vancha probably wouldn't even know the answer himself. He seemed really… Off, in terms of mentality.

"So… What does that mean for Vesta?" Stella asked, wiping her eyes on Nekane's hair and looking around at the group that she was currently with.

"Well, we need to look around, but it's doubtful that they're here," Tad said after another moment of thought. He felt like a detective or something with so many puzzle pieces that he had to put together. "Which means that whoever was here, took them… But, they were hoping that we would be dumb enough to believe the little scene they put up."

"It was really believable," Nekane said, wiping at her eyes and leaning on Bandera, paying no mind to the fact that he was blushing. "I was really scared for a while."

"Should we look around?" Vancha asked. He was already at the top of the staircase.

"Yeah," Tad responded. "First, Nekane… Would you be able to feel if someone was here?"

"If they were living, yes," Nekane responded. "However, if there are more people like Ms. Three… I don't know…"

"So, we'll just make two teams," Tad said. "Vaerith, you and the Exceeds can come with me. Vancha, if you guys are attacked, it would benefit your magic and your allies if you be their shield and warrior," he explained.

"Okay," Vancha said.

"I'll fight, too," Nekane said. She then looked down at her lack of shoes and then at the floor. "The floor is lava, c'mon, Mr. Bandera!" she said after her eyes flashed with an idea. Yes, they were in a dire situation, but she didn't doubt their success in their mission, even if it took a while.

"What?" Bandera asked, a dumbfounded look on his face. When Nekane extended her hand, he took it, and when he realized that she was skipping on her tip-toes to avoid the large puddles of syrup and dye, he laughed.

"Moron!" Lucie huffed, floating behind them.

"Why don't I get to go with Nekane?" Vaerith pouted. He then walked over to Tad, who had an Exceed on each shoulder. "We needed more women on this mission. Wouldn't you agree?"

"What would be the point of more women?" Tad asked, watching as Nekane and Bandera made it to the top of the staircase and then turned to the left. Hopefully they would remember to check downstairs, too. "I don't think the gender distribution of our mission would really matter," he added, turning his attention back to Vaerith.

"Aw, c'mon," Vaerith whined. "You know when a cute mage lady in a skirt is battling you live for the moment that the wind catches her clothes just right," he explained, a drop of blood coming from his nose, a sparkly fantasizing look in his eyes.

"What would wind have to do girls?" Tad asked, arching a brow at Vaerith.

"Uhhhhggggg!" Vaerith groaned. "Your… Your… I don't even know what to call the problem that you have? Do you even like women?"

"Yeah, I guess," Tad responded with a shrug.

~!~!~

About an hour later, all of the griffins met up on the porch of the house. After a few minutes of talking, they agreed that they had come up with nothing. Both of the Exceeds began to cry at the news, but Bandera spoke up.

"Don't worry, you two…" he spoke in a comforting voice. "We're gonna find them and rescue them!"

"Yeah… I'm sure if we search the mountains, I can get their auras and find them!" Nekane agreed, her eyes mirroring the determination that was in Bandera's eyes.

"No!" Tad said before Vaerith and Vancha could get riled up. "We need to report to the guild. Our mission was to make sure that they were okay, and they're not."

"But we could find them," Bandera said, blinking in surprise at Tad's tone.

"Or we could get captured and Winter would never get news of what's going on in the mountains," Tad argued.

"Thanks for having faith in us," Vaerith mumbled sarcastically.

"We only have three mages that can really fight here," Tad said. "And we have two distraught Exceeds. Winter is probably worried, too. We need to regroup and do this as a guild."

"But it's gonna worry Ms. Winter…" Bandera said, his eyes falling to the ground. The defeat was audible in his voice.

"Yeah, but we need to rally the troops," Tad said. "Winter was concerned about something when she sent us up here and I'm sure she has her reasons. We're returning to the guild as quickly as possible and discussing our next course of action there. There are probably better mages suited for this task, anyway."

"What exactly are we going to tell Winter about the members that aren't here?" Nekane asked, her brows furrowing.

"We say that they've most likely been kidnapped," Tad responded in a solemn tone.

_*****END OF INTRODUCTION ARC*****_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Phew! I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. It's like the shortest one in a while, to be honest. Anyway, I'ma start listing out notes 'cuz it looks better._

_-That's the end of the introduction arc. If your character hasn't been introduced, which is like, three or four characters, they will be throughout the next arc because I'm using them for plot devices. _

_-I'm really happy the last chapter went over well. It was one of the most fun to write. This chapter was toned down a lot from the last two, but this is both the end and beginning. Next chapter is going to be so packed with emotions. It's gonna be a really scary rollercoaster, guys! :D_

_-Winter will not break her record again. I know some people are concerned with the amount of characters, but honestly, there's not many more than were in the last version of Silver Griffin and we made it through. Next arc will expand a lot on characters. _

_-I will start accepting Hydra Dusk OCs next chapter, but there will be some restrictions and such, as usual. _

_-I messed up on my notes for this chapter and if it seems a little… I don't know… Wrong? It's because I totally messed up planning for it and my ideas got garbled and stuff. I think it's pretty good, still._

_-The next chapter may take nearly a week to get up. I've got to some planning in regards to all of the OCs' histories and stringing them together and tying them into the plot and such. That's gonna take me a while. I also need to plan some more on romance. I'm ready to start writing some romance, yo. X3_

_-I AM WORKING ON SOMEWHAT BADLY DRAWN VISUALS FOR SILVER GRIFFIN. LINKS WILL BE POSTED ON MY PROFILE. IF YOU DON'T TRUST THAT FANFIC WARNS YOU OF IT BEING UNSAFE, JUST GOOGLE "MUNCHIESAURUS ON DEVIANTART" AND LOOK AT MY GALLERY. IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO DRAW YOUR CHARACTER FOR WHATEVER REASON, TELL ME!_

_**Credits: **_

_Isoko – FrozenBlast13_

_Cole – Zades_

_Quin – Seth98_

_Elizabeth – sweetopal15_

_**Review Responses**_

_**Thank you all so much as always! Lots and lots of love from me! 3 It means so much to me to see my work going over well. What did you guys think of the first arc overall? It's probably shortest of this book, unless I do the fluffy filler at the end. **_

_Origm2012 – Hehe. I've stopped focusing on length for the most part. I will not go over 10k because that's just insane, but apart from that, I don't pay much mind. I'm glad you like longer chapters, though! :3 And I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! ^.^_

_Puffypuffin3 – Yeah. A few people actually got confused. I literally finshed one chapter and started on the other because I had everything planned out. XD Yeah. I figured a lot of people were getting annoyed with Crystal, so why not go ahead and start with some past revealing? And I'm happy that most people turned out okay with Rylen's past. I generally don't give my characters dark pasts. I just like making happy characters more than anything. XD_

_FrozenBlast13 – I'm really happy that you liked the chapter. ^.^ I'm also happy that no one said much about the gore of the chapter. It really worried me. ^^; I hope I wrote Isoko okay. Sorry she didn't appear very much. ^.^; I'm happy you enjoyed the last chapter, too~_

_Baren – No problem. I'm glad you're enjoying the story. C:_

_Vaerith – I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hope I didn't make Vaerith too pervy, haha. _

_MyDearWatson – Sorry. D: I need to read your fic and catch up on Love Goes Boom. :U I have a lot of fics I need to catch up on. ; n ; Sorry about cliffhangers. I like them too much. OwO And yeah. I don't normally aim for very dark histories. Maybe one or two deaths because death is a part of life, but meh. I needed plot things and Rylen got the short end of the stick there. And I'm really happy you liked the chapter! In response to your other review, I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter. I really want to work in a flashback with Loh, Fame and Fortune as kids, as Fame and Fortune were both a lot different, and I like fluffy childhood moments. X3 I don't know when I'll get around to doing that, though and if you want to send me information about child Loh, feel free to. :3 I really have problems estimating my word count correctly when planning because I'm always throwing in little conversations between characters and stuff that come to mind when writing._

_Barrett M107 – A few people said the same thing about the update. I had it all planned and honestly, it was going to be one chapter, but it got too long and that would have been a huge chapter, so yeah. I love writing drama and I think it's going to get a lot worst in next arc. I've got some crazy stuff planned. :U And as you could see, Team Bandera was… Not the most successful. :I I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter!_

_La Maitresse' Dame – This arc will have some backstory for characters, though it is not the arc that will focus primarily on this. Rylen's backstory was to kick this off because I needed some plot-filler things. There will be an arc that will be more focused on doing missions and trying to get the name of the guild out there either after the upcoming arc or after the S-class exams, depending on what order I decide to do it in. This will focus on Hydra Dusk, and establishing some back-story for the guild itself. I'm really happy that you didn't find the chapter too gruesome. I struggle hard with the ratings. I've considered bumping it up to M just so that I wouldn't have to, but I think that would be alienating people, since the last one wasn't M rated and it would probably get less views._

_JustanSpecialist – I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter. :3_

_DarkHyena – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. :3_

_Death Obelisk – Happy you enjoyed the chapter. C:_

_FairyTailWolf6 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter and I'm happy that you found good things about my portrayal of Kai. :D_


	11. Chapter 11 xPower of Science

**?, X791**

Julius's eyes opened after a moment and he squinted, though even he wasn't sure if it was because of the lack of lighting in the room or because of the lack of glasses on his face. He tried to move his hand only to hear the jingle of chains and find that both of his wrists were restrained above his head. His brows furrowed and he let out a groan of annoyance. He tried to move his legs, which were tucked under him, to find that his ankles were also chained to the floor. This left him unable to actually move. Yes, he could wiggle his hips, slide his thighs around, or look around, but apart from that, he was restrained. His magic appeared to be sealed as well, so the chances of getting out of whatever kind of situation he was in, was low.

Not letting himself get too worked up, he attempted to look around. He was in some sort of stone cell with cold floors and walls made of large dark stone. He couldn't make out the color, but in the dark, he could make out shapes of unconscious humans around him. He could see three on the wall across from him, two on the wall beside him and at least one shape on the wall with him. Presumably, they'd all been captured. Damn. Clearing his throat, he spoke. "Everyone…!"

The first person to react to his voice was the person on the wall beside him, close to him. He could make out a feminine figure as it moved, though just barely.

"Mmmrmm?" Shiloh groaned as a noise filled her ears. The first thing she attempted to do was stretch, but when she heard the rattle of the chains and found herself unable to move her legs or arms apart, she froze, opening her eyes. Her vision in the dark was just a bit better than Julius's, so she was able to make out the clear shapes of her allies and a faint glow of light coming from a heavy steel door that was on the wall in front of her. The source of the light was a tiny, barred window in the door. By the flicker of it, she could assume that it was by some sort of fire that was fairly far away. She could also feel the binding of her magic and after moving around for a moment, she realized that her tonfas were gone as well. She resulted in looking around and watching as the others began to move and wake up.

Marionette, who was on the same wall as Shiloh, let out a soft sigh as her eyes opened. Her instant instinct at seeing the darkness was to use her magic, but she let out a small huff at the fact that it was sealed. "This is simply marvelous," she mumbled in a sarcastic tone, her voice echoing off of the walls.

"Yep," Kai agreed with a groan. He didn't have his sword and his magic was sealed. This made him antsy, to say the least. He pulled at the chains on his wrists as hard as he could and used his head to push himself off of the wall, trying to move his legs so that he could stand up. He was on the wall across from Julius, in between Fame and Ryuuga.

"It's not gonna work, you idiot," Fame grumbled at Kai. "At least be still so that we don't have to deal with annoying noises," he said, flipping his hair out of his eyes. While he wasn't being as noisy as Kai was about the whole ordeal, if any of the griffins could see his wrists, they could see that he had been pulling so hard that the chains had cut him, causing a stream of blood to trickle down each wrist. He didn't like not having his earbuds; it was rare to see the mage not listening to music, and having hardly any noise other than speaking was making him feel as though he may go into a panic attack. Not that he would let any of that show.

"So…. Irritating…." Ryuuga growled, the chains around his wrists making noise as he tried to fight with them. After he felt himself being cut, he started trying to free his legs next, making more noise than Kai was.

"STOP!" Vesta snapped in annoyance. She was beside Julius and all of the noise was giving her a headache. She had only struggled briefly before realizing that it wasn't going to work and there was no point in trying when all it was going to do was make more annoying noises.

"What else are we supposed to do?!" Ryuuga snapped back, not stopping at all.

All of the effort that Ryuuga was putting into getting free made Kai want to try as well, making a lot of noise erupt from that side of the room. Fame let out a groan and dropped his head low, wishing there was some way for him to avoid the sound. He saw Vesta was doing the same when he looked through the corner of his eye.

"It's no use…" Rylen mumbled, making everyone stop moving. He was sitting on the other side of Vesta and he had moved, but not said anything. He was missing one of his arms, but the other was chained above his head. "I messed us up… We're trapped…"

"It wasn't your fault, Len," Shiloh said, her tone soft and gentle. She hated that Rylen blamed himself. They hadn't been cautious enough. None of them had been. It was no one's fault in particular, at least not on their end. They were betrayed by Eyren, and if she wanted to point any fingers, it would be there, but she wasn't going to.

"Maybe it is your fault," Fame hissed. "Need to just let go of the past, loser."

Shiloh opened her mouth to snap at him for being so mean, but Rylen spoke in a firm tone. "Shouldn't you be doing the same….? Just a few messed up missions and you put on this-"

"Shut the hell up!" Fame snarled.

"Child... You'll never learn to grow up," Rylen mumbled under his breath.

"And that's why we don't work with the lone S-class mage," Vesta mumbled under her breath. Over the years, she had seen Fame and Rylen bump heads many times. She liked to think it was because, while Rylen acted nice, he was probably full of himself for being the first S-class of their generation. Or maybe there really was some kind of huge difference in their maturity levels.

"I wish I had my glasses," Julius hissed under his breath. He felt at an even bigger disadvantage than the others as at least they could probably faintly see in the lighting. He couldn't. However, as if something was providing an answer to his vision problem, the door opened, letting in light, that while faint, was enough to make the griffins squint.

"Are you sure we just take four of them?" One of the two men that were standing in the doorway asked. Both of them were dressed in white lab coats, blue powdered gloves, black non-skid sneakers, and white doctor's masks and blue surgeon caps.

"He said take four of them. We need the other four for something else," the other man hissed to him, glaring. The only difference in the two was that one was younger with smooth, creamy skin and the other was elderly with slightly rugged, sun-tanned skin.

"Does it matter which four?" the younger man asked.

"Pick the ones that look healthiest!" the elderly man barked.

With that, the younger man hesitantly walked into the room with the griffins, though fear was evident in his eyes.

"They're magic is sealed! They are not going to be able to hurt you!" The elder explained, stomping into the room. He looked around and after a moment, he grabbed Vesta's chains and after using a key, freed them from the wall and the ground, lifting her up, even though her wrists and ankles were still bound together.

Instantly, she attempted to headbutt him, making the younger man whip around and whimper in fear, even though he wasn't the one under attack.

"Cancel my earlier words!" the elder snapped. "Use the syringe!" He sidestepped to dodge Vesta the first time, but the second time, he wasn't so lucky, as her head collided with face, sending him stumbling backwards.

With that, the younger man fiddled in his labcoat and pulled out a medium syringe filled with clear liquid and stabbed it into Vesta's neck.

"Dammit…." Vesta wheezed, the effects of the liquid in the syringe making her head feel really light as her entire body began to go numb. She swayed for a few moments, trying her hardest to keep it together. However, after just a few seconds, she blacked out, falling forward.

The elder let her hit the floor and then grabbed the chains on her wrists with one hand. He then fiddled in his coat and pulled out his own syringe. He walked over to Kai now, who instantly began struggling.

"Go to hell!" Kai snapped as the syringe was stabbed into his neck. He groaned and passed out after a couple of seconds.

The elder undid his chains from the wall and floor and started to drag Kai and Vesta towards the door.

The younger male looked around and eventually used his syringe on Ryuuga and Rylen, struggling to drag the two behind him. While Ryuuga had snarled and tried to scare the younger scientist away, Rylen hadn't even tried to do anything, not even making a sound as he was injected.

"Why the hell are you getting the one that's missing an arm?" the elder snapped once they were in the doorway.

"If he's missing an arm and alive, doesn't that mean he's strong or something?" the younger one asked.

The elder glared at the younger man for a moment and then shook his head.

"Where are you going with them?" Julius asked, glaring at them. He had begun to struggle now, trying to break free of his chains as he walked his friends and colleagues being dragged away.

"To run some experiments," the elder said over his shoulder as he closed the door, leaving the griffins in a mostly dark room.

"Dammit…." Julius hissed. He couldn't help. He couldn't do anything. He felt like such a failure.

"Julius," Fame started under his breath. "We have to wreck this guild when we get out of here."

"I'm sure they'll be fine… They're strong…" Shiloh said in a small voice, though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself just about as much as the people in the room with her.

"Undoubtedly," Marionette said in a small, emotionless voice, though her eyes were fixed on the door.

* * *

><p><strong>?, X791<strong>

"Are you sure that only taking four of them is the right choice?" The same elderly man asked later, his beady eyes watching as Alnon paced around the room, looking at the four griffins who had been taken, all of which were tightly strapped to tables with their magic bound, all still unconscious. "What if she decides to come for the others?"

Alnon stopped pacing and turned to the elderly man. "I doubt it. She's going to be so distraught at the letters and the disappearance of her little griffins that she won't know what to do," he said. He then stopped and hesitated. "And if she does launch an attack, we've got her strongest mages. We'll have no problem stopping the others that come to save their allies."

"If you are certain of this, Master Alnon," the elderly man said, bowing his head. "I still think it would be better to just extract their vital organs and magic reserves and kill them."

"And that's why you're not in charge," Alnon responded. "We hydra are the predators. The griffins are our prey. Much like a creature of the night, we shall toy with our food before we devour them." He then stopped at Kai's motionless body and ran a hand along his cheek. "Besides, what's not better than turning family against family?"

* * *

><p><strong>October 10<strong>**th****, around 3am**

Bandera awoke to the sound of a female crying softly. His eyes fluttered open and he brought a hand up to wipe the sleep away from his eyes. When his mind fully registered the noise that he heard around him, he sat up on one elbow, his eyes widened and he hissed, "Nekane?!" thinking it was her that the crying was coming from. This only made the crying worsen, which caused Bandera to look around.

He, and his team had camped out for the night, setting up sleeping bags around a firepit, though the fire had long since died down. Vaerith, Vancha and Tad were all asleep, the sound of snoring sounding from all of them. For a moment, he didn't see Nekane at all, until he felt an arm wrap around him, making him freeze.

Slowly, his eyes drifted over and he saw Nekane on the other side of him, attempting to snuggle up to him. She was still asleep and had rolled away from her own sleeping back and was partially on his, and partially on the ground. She was curled up and after he shifted to try to get away from her arm, she mumbled something incoherent and moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder after he shifted to lay on his back.

He stared up at the stars with dots for eyes, a squiggly line for a mouth, his face practically steaming. He had never had a woman be so blatantly affectionate. He always assumed that he would be the type to jump on that opportunity, but the thought of flirting with Nekane at all made his throat tighten. He really was an idiot. He could take hold of the chance in an instant with just a few words but he doubted that he ever would. However, maybe he could take a tiny advantage of the fact that he was pretty much sharing a bed with a girl. So, he brought the hand of the arm that Nekane was resting on around to rest on her back, feeling how warm she was. This made his face redden and steam even more. The back of her dress was mostly open and with his thumb, he could feel her skin, which was soft and warm.

His heart was pounding, but it was quickly slowed by the sound of the crying becoming even louder, snapping him out of his moment. His eyes widened and his face returned to its normal color. Gently removing his arm from Nekane, he sat up and looked around.

They were sleeping in a clearing, near the spot where they had seen the other griffins a few days ago. At the edge of the woods, he could see Lucie, and she was hunched over, sobbing, though her back was to him, so he couldn't see her face.

Wiping at his eyes again, he stood up, looking over his shoulder when Nekane rolled over more and took over his sleeping bag, snuggling up to the place where he had been lying. He blushed for a moment and then walked swiftly, but softly over to Lucie. "What's wrong, Lucie?" he asked.

Lucie sobbed for a few moments before she glared at him over her shoulder. Her face was red and tear-stained and her eyes were bloodshot and had tears streaming from them. "Leave me alone, you jerk!" she snapped.

Bandera furrowed his brows and walked up beside her, sitting cross-legged on the ground. "That doesn't answer my question," he said. He hadn't really ever seen her like this and wasn't sure how to deal with it, but he was going to try.

Lucie continued to sob for a few moments, not answering him at all. After what seemed to Bandera as thirty or forty minutes, but was really only a few minutes, she began to spoke. "You're gonna abandon me!" she pouted.

"What?" Bandera questioned, his eyes widening in bewilderment. "What the hell gave you that idea?!" he asked.

"That green witch… She's gonna make you forget all about me," Lucie pouted, glaring over her shoulder in the general direction of Nekane. "You're not gonna be lonely anymore and you…" her voice faded as she began to cry again. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them for a moment.

Bandera let out a sigh and told himself not to lose his patience. He then patted Lucie's back and started to speak. "Nekane isn't going to make me forget about you… We'll always be friends, Lucie," he said in a soft tone. "She just wants to help me become the mage that I want to be."

"No, she doesn't!" Lucie snapped, slapping away Bandera's hand. "She wants you to fall in love with her so she can control you and get rid of me! She probably has something against me because I'm a demon or something!"

Bandera wondered if most people would have something against her because she was a demon, but he didn't say anything about that. "She's not in love with me and she doesn't want me to love her. She's just trying to help because Winter asked her to and she feels obligated."

"And that's why when you hear someone crying you instantly feel concerned about her, not anyone else, right?" Lucie grumbled bitterly.

Bandera opened his mouth to say some kind of rebuttal, but he realized that he had none, so he shut his mouth with a small grunting noise, his eyes falling to the ground. "Lucie, you know how much I want a girlfriend… You've got to know that…." He said after a few minutes of thinking.

"And that's why she's gonna replace me and you're going to forget all about me!" Lucie hissed. "I just… I want her to leave us alone… Or something worse…" she mumbled under her breath.

Bandera let out an aspirated sigh and turned to Lucie. "She's not gonna replace you. In case you forgot, you're attached to me and can't even get really far away from me," he pointed out. "Besides, I'd think you'd be happy that I found someone like her. At least you can talk to her and I don't look like a lunatic around her."

Lucie glared at the ground for a few moments. "She wants to get rid of me…"

"No, she doesn't," Bandera argued, wrapping an arm around Lucie's shoulder and pulling her close. "She wants you to like her and not hate her after she helps me. She has no intentions of making you go away."

"…."

"She saw into my past and she knows how lonely I used to be, and she doesn't want me to return to that. That's why she cried and didn't want to tell me that it was you causing my problem with magic."

"…."

"Lucie… Please try to see eye-to-eye with her..."

"Do you not think I was lonely before you awaken me?" Lucie finally questioned, leaning into Bandera's arm. "I don't even know anything about my past and stuff, and all I know is you. If you fall in love with someone who may actually love you back, you won't want me around as much and I'll be lonely again."

"That's why… If there is something between Nekane and me, you should be supportive," Bandera said. "You'll be even less lonely because you'll be able to talk to her, too."

"I don't even know why you say 'if', you dolt," Lucie said, her tone finally lightening up, just a little bit. "All you have to do is say those god-awful words you say to every woman in the guild every chance you get and that's it."

Bandera let out a small, nervous laugh. "I know… I think… She intimidates me, though," he admitted, scratching the back of his head and blushing.

"How can you be scared of the wicked green witch, you moron?!" Lucie heckled, glaring up at him.

"How can you be scared of her?" Bandera retorted, pushing Lucie playfully.

She sneered at him, folded her arms across her chest, and stuck her nose up at him.

* * *

><p>When morning came around, the team woke up and packed up, with Vaerith teasing Bandera about the fact that he and Nekane had switched sleeping bags during the night. Nekane apologized and after eating breakfast that Bandera made over a fire, they set out with Vancha carrying Kai's sword and Bandera carrying Shiloh's keys and tonfas, all of which they had found on the scene when investigating the mayor's manor in Allium.<p>

They were almost through the mountains when the ground started rumbling, making the team of griffins fall silent and listen, looking around.

"It's definitely coming from the ground," Tad said, backpedaling while his eyes focused on the area that was a few feet in front of them. The place where his eye stayed was shaking more than the rest of the area and the water mage was pretty sure there was something beneath it.

"Should we run past it?" Vaerith asked, stepping back as well. His eyes were on the same spot, and both of his hands were on his katanas, though his legs were bent just in case they agreed to run.

"Not a good idea," Tad responded.

Not that it really mattered whether or not it was a good idea, because they wouldn't have had time to run past. As soon as Tad finished his sentence, the ground burst and a huge being began climbing from it. It had huge shoulders and its body looked warped and mangled, as if its bones didn't fit right beneath the skin. When it was finally out of the ground, the dust falling from its body, it towered over all of the griffins, standing at least fifteen feet tall. It had a bald head and apart from the cloth wrapped around its waist, was naked. Its skin was stained by dirt, but looked like it would normally be deathly pale. Red and purple veins bulged all over his neck and arms and his face was bunched up, with a huge, crooked nose, a grotesque, crooked, rotten grin and small beady eyes. Apart from a few odd strands, his lumpy head was bald. Across his chest, "213" was tattooed in black, bold numbers.

He didn't seem to take too much time to take in his environment before his eyes landed on the griffins and with a fierce roar, he charged towards them, the ground shaking and threatening to give way under his massive, distorted feet.

"DODGE!" Tad commanded in a loud, powerful voice.

Nekane, the Exceeds and Tad rolled one way, while Bandera, Vaerith and Lucie rolled another way. All watched in horror as Vancha stood his ground, still smiling.

213 scooped Vancha up in one huge hand and slammed him into the ground, shattering the ground around him and sending debris flying everywhere, creating a small crater in the earth. He seemed to grin in pleasure at the destruction that he caused.

"Vancha, you idiot!" Vaerith screamed. He readied his hands to try to use a spell to help Vancha from a distance, but he stopped when he saw a purple glow from inside the crater that Vancha was in.

Vancha's right hand began to glow bright purple and he threw a punch into the experiment's chest, causing a bright purple explosion on impact and sending the behemoth flying, wiping the creepy grin from his face as he flew.

"Nevermind…" Vaerith mumbled, watching in awe as the experiment landed on the ground a few feet away, skidding to a stop on a nearby ledge, his body resting on its side. The ground that they were fighting on was mostly flat, save for a cave that was quite a few feet away and the ledge that led to the path below, as well as the sloped path that curved around said ledge.

Vancha pulled himself from the crater and climbed out. He seemed unfazed, but his shirt was ripped and hanging from one shoulder and the bruises that already covered his body were obvious. He was still smiling, though, as he walked back over to his team and pulled his shirt off, finding that the hanging cloth would probably get in his way.

"Alright, we fight!" Vaerith shouted. Just as he saw the giant trying to stand, he lifted one of his hands and called out, "Shadow God's Retribution!" After a black magic circle appeared in front of his palm, a huge black blast of shadow magic was fired, hitting the giant just as he got up and causing him to slide back, falling off the edge with a loud crash that shook the earth.

"Yay!" Nekane cheered. She had been standing back away from everyone else, as she wasn't sure what she could do to help.

"He's still alive!" Stella called. She was flying above the griffins in order to peer over the ledge, holding Nikko as she did so to keep him safe, Vancha's Momo sitting atop her head. She had doubted that the group of griffins knew of Nikko's disability of not being able to fly since most of them she didn't even recognize, so she decided she would take care of him.

With that, 213 jumped up in the air, landing on the ledge, scowling and growling at the griffins. He then punched the ground with full force, causing the earth in front of him to split, forming a thin, but deep fissure that traveled towards the griffins.

They all dodged with ease and Nekane stepped forward. "I wanna try something," she said. The magic circle on top of her hand began to glow light blue, and she lifted her hand. She then blasted a beam of light blue magic at the man, hitting him and causing a light blue magic circle to appear on his chest.

He looked down at it, and for a second, he was calm, just staring at it.

"It worked?" Bandera asked. He was trying to stay back from the battle with Nekane, as he couldn't do anything, either.

Nekane stared with her eyes full of hope, her hands tucked under her chin. She didn't answer Bandera. The hope faded when the magic circle burst into dust and the giant roared at them.

213 stomped the ground, loosening a chunk of earth, and then picked up the moderately sized boulder and threw it, aiming for Nekane.

Nekane jumped out of the way and covered her ears as the boulder crashed behind her.

"We're just going to have to fight," Tad said, stepping forward and looking to Vancha and Vaerith as they joined him. "Bandera, Nekane, stay back."

Bandera let out a sigh of annoyance, but he stepped back even further, his eyes dropping to the ground. He wanted to help. They needed all of the help they could in this fight, but he just couldn't do it.

Nekane stepped back as well, though she grabbed the marble from her neck and turned it into her short bow, forming white arrows in it. "That guy doesn't have an aura, either, so my magic doesn't work very well," she mumbled. "I can try to shoot him, though."

"At least you can do something," Bandera mumbled under his breath.

"I can help you," Lucie said, stepping up to Bandera.

He looked down at her and shook his head. "I don't know if that will even work. I'd rather not risk it unless we have to."

Meanwhile, Tad molded the moisture in the air around him until he had streams of water surrounding each of his hands. He then punched the air once with each fist, causing the water to condense into bullets and fly towards the experiment, colliding with his chest, though not affecting him.

Vaerith pulled out his katanas, letting shadow magic surround them, and then he charged forward. In seconds, he was on the giant, dancing around it, his entire body emitting shadows as he sliced at him, though the blades were not piercing his skin. After Vaerith realized this, he attempted to jump back, but one of the behemoth's giant hands wrapped around his legs as he leapt into the air.

The giant threw Vaerith to the ground a few feet from him and the shadow god slayer rolled and then skidded to a stop, groaning in pain as his forehead pressed to the earth, which was already rorn from the fight.

213 started to charge forward, readying his fists to crush Vaerith, but Nekane fired an arrow, landing it in his eye. However, this didn't stop him, even after the arrow exploded and just as he was about to crush Vaerith, Vancha stepped forward, grabbing one of his fists and using all of his might to stop the impact, both of his arms glowing purple with magic as he took in the pain.

"We've got to help, moron," Lucie hissed. With that, she took Bandera over, causing his hair to pale and his eyes to turn bright green. He crossed the battlefield in just a few seconds and caught the other fist, which was aimed at Vancha, his muscles bruising with the stress of the extra strength as he held the giant off.

Tad then jumped forward, his entire body becoming water as he crashed into the giant with as much force as he could. The droplets that were now his body flew past the giant and he reformed behind him, quickly running to get back on the front of him, realizing he had no impact on their enemy.

Not knowing what else to do, Vaerith's body swelled and a magic circle appeared in front of his mouth as he shouted, "Shadow God's Bellow!" A magnificent blast of shadows erupted from his magic reserves and covered the giant's body in shadows, the sheer force pushing him back away from the mages.

"Make some distance!" Tad commanded, hopping back. They weren't hurting the enemy much at all and they needed to regroup and strategize.

Bandera back-flipped and landed next to Tad, his hands resting on his knees. "God… Why is this dolt's body so weak…?" he panted in a high-pitched, annoyed voice.

Vaerith rolled back, landing in a crouched position on the other side of Tad. His mask had been destroyed by the magic and the grimace could be seen on his face. There was blood streaming down the left side of his face, forcing him to close his left eye.

Vancha attempted to jump back, but his body was so numb that he couldn't land correctly, so he stumbled and fell on his back in front of the griffins. He tried to get up, but only managed to get on one elbow before falling back. He grinned up at his team, who was watching him with concerned eyes. "I can't feel anything," he explained.

Tad helped him up and then scratched the back of his head. "Does your… Magic do this?" he asked.

"Yeah," Vancha responded with a grin.

213 tried to charge again, having recovered from Vaerith's attack, his body unscathed, but before he could move again, Nekane fired another arrow, taking out his other eye.

"That aim, girl!" Vaerith called back with a grin, thinking that it would help now that the giant hd no eyesight.

Nekane smiled at him, readying her bow again. Her arrows were mostly meant to pierce auras, though, so the only way for her to get any damage to was to hit his eyes. Now that he was blind, there was nothing else she could do. She needed a real bow and real arrows, but she had never thought she would need it, since she rarely ever used her magic bow for anything other than fun.

213 brought his hands up to his eyes and bellowed in annoyance, wiping at his eyes, which didn't bleed, but instead released a bit of brown, sparkly magic.

"He's probably going to blow or something soon," Tad said, stepping back, remembering how Three had been when she blew up.

Bandera backed up and Vaerith helped Vancha and himself to back up, though all of them apart from Tad were shakily standing.

Instead of self-destructing, the giant began to morph, his muscles and bones contorting as he gained about five more feet in height and each of his shoulders grew about three inches outward. His legs bulked up to support his weight and so did his feet and then he shouted angrily at the griffins loud enough to make their ears ring. His eyes were gone, but it didn't seem to bother him anymore.

"He's pissed!" Vaerith exclaimed, swiping blood away from his eye so that he could open it.

"Restrain him, if you can, Vaerith!" Tad called. They were having trouble before, but now he was probably at least a hundred pounds heavier and berserk. They were fighting a losing fight, but maybe he would self-destruct if restrained.

"Shadow God's Snare!" Vaerith called, pressing his hands to the ground, wobbling as he bent over. He was pretty sure his left ribs were either badly bruised, if not broken because bending made him want to cry.

A magic circle appeared on the ground under Vaerith's hands and then behind the experiment and shadowy tendrils shot out and wrapped around the distorted man, binding him in place.

213 roared again and then within one swift movement, broke free of the tendrils and recklessly lunged forward, scooping up all of the griffins other than Bandera, who was able to dodge.

Vancha's entire body began to glow as he pumped the rest of his magic into one spell; his counter. He knew that they were about to get hurt and maybe if he countered it, it would at least cripple the monster's hand. There was no way he was going to be able to do anything after this, but this had never failed him in the past.

Tad turned into water and slipped through the behemoth's grasp, only to be kicked by one of his giant feet and sent flying through the air, slamming into the top of the cave that was a few feet away, his head spinning. He tried to pull himself to his elbows, but ended up only coughing up a mix of blood and water and rolling over on his back so that he didn't fall into the puddle that he had made.

Vaerith couldn't move and he was already injured, so he did nothing, only closed his eyes and hoped that he would at least live.

The towering man reared back and threw them to the ground, hard, causing another crater in the ground as the two men landed. He then let out a yell of pain as a few wounds opened in his hands making more magic seep out of his body.

Vaerith was knocked unconscious on impact and while Vancha was awake, he couldn't feel a thing. He stared at the sky, wondering how much damage he had done. He heard the trembles that were caused by the feet of the behemoth and after hearing him roar again, his brows furrowed. He didn't sound like he had accomplished much. Maybe he was at least missing a hand or something.

Tad pulled himself to his knees just in time to see the next scene that occurred, a scene that confused him due to his lack of ability to see Lucie.

Bandera jumped back to where Nekane was, away from the battle a bit and then freed herself from him, not paying much mind as his body fell to the ground, unconscious. "Nekane," she said in a small voice.

"Yes?" Nekane questioned, her eyes falling to Lucie. They had originally been on the giant, wondering what she and Lucie would be able to do to stop him.

"Take care of this moron, okay?" she asked, looking up at the green haired girl with tears in her eyes. "You may be a green haired witch, but I trust you," she admitted, her voice cracking and becoming hoarse towards the end.

Nekane's eyes filled with tears as well, not because she knew what was going on, but because she could feel the pain in Lucie's aura, and it hurt her. "Wh-what are you t-talking about?" she stammered, beginning to hug herself with one arm.

"I'm going to save you bunch of morons," Lucie mumbled, turning her attention back to the monster. With that, her body began to glow with a mix of violet and magenta magic as she darted forward before she could begin to regret her decision. She refused to look behind her. Her bright emerald eyes were tightly shut to block out the tears, block out everything. It had to be done.

Nekane stared for a moment before she realized what Lucie was planning on doing. "LUCIE, NO!" she screeched, dropping her bow, which turned back into a marble when it hit the ground, and chasing after the small blonde haired girl. "PLEASE, NO!"

"F-forgive me, you m-morons…" Lucie mumbled under breath as she glided through the air. _Bandera, you dolt, you'd better find the strength to go on. Fight like you've always wanted and fall in love with that stupid green-haired witch. She'll protect you and make you happy more so than I ever could, _she thought.

"PLEASE, STOP!" Nekane shouted, tears streaming down her face now. She ran as fast as she could, tripping over the debris that the giant had caused. She wasn't fast enough! There was no way for her to catch the little devil. However, she thought that there was some kind of hope when she saw Lucie stop in front of the monster, her entire body glowing brightly with magic. Nekane shot one arm forward, but she was too late.

The green-haired aura mage managed to shield one side of her face with one of her arms while the hand of the other brushed against Lucie's golden locks of hair. A loud, "BOOOOOMMMMM!" filled the air and the ground rumbled as the demon bust on the experiment and the last thing Nekane heard was Lucie's voice before everything went black.

_ Forgive me, Bandera. Please, forgive me._

* * *

><p>Early morning light and darkness were the first things that Nekane saw when she woke up after the incident and she instantly set up and then winced as her entire body protested the movement. She looked down to see that all of her chest was bandages, some of which were under her dress. The ends of her dress were badly torn and her legs were wrapped up as well. The reason she saw darkness was because the entire right side of her face was bandaged, covering one of her eyes. "Lucie!" she called, her eye flashing as she scanned the area for auras. She saw, through the auras that her entire team was around and alive.<p>

"Where is Lucie?" Bandera's voice made the green haired girl freeze. She looked up to see Bandera limping towards her. He had no bandages, but his jacket wasn't on and she could see how bruised his skin was, even in the night. He crouched next to her and gave her a questioning look. "I woke up a couple of hours ago and I tried to find her, but I couldn't. Tad said you were screaming for her before the giant blew up."

Nekane stared at the ground for a few moments before she gripped her dress and began to sob, the bandages on her face quickly becoming drenched in tears.

Bandera watched her for a few seconds before his eyes widened and his face paled. "Is… Is… She…?" he couldn't say it. He didn't want to say it. Surely, she hadn't been the cause of the explosion. It couldn't be that. She was too selfish to do something like that… Besides, they needed each other. It wasn't that. It couldn't be.

"I'm so sorry….." Nekane whimpered. "So… So…Sorry…."

"No… Please tell me you're lying…" Bandera breathed. He could feel his throat tightening. He couldn't take the words. He wanted to be lied to. Lucie was back at the guild or something, right?

Tad wasn't sure what was going on, but as he was the only other member of their team awake, he watched the scene with sorrowful eyes. So it was as he thought. Nekane had tried to stop Lucie, but she had blown herself up to kill the experiment. It had worked and there was no doubt that most of them, if not all of them, would probably be dead if not. He, even with his injuries, had bandaged Vancha, Vaerith and Nekane up and once Bandera woke up, they had moved their camp down the trail, just in case there were more giants. They had tried to inspect the hole that the monster had emerged from, but it had caved in, so they couldn't see anything.

Nekane shook her head and pulled her legs up to her chest. "I… I wanted to stop… her…" she mumbled, toying with a loose string on the end of her dress. The scene replayed in her head over and over again and she found herself crying harder, the bandages on her face unraveling to reveal a huge bruise that started over her eyebrow and ended at the corner of her mouth. On her cheek, below her eye, there was a large gash that burned as tears poured into it.

"Is that how you got hurt….?" Bandera asked, trying to focus his mind on something other than the news he'd received. He refused to believe it.

Nekane shrugged, but Tad spoke up. "She really did try to stop whatever happened. She was less than a couple of feet away from the giant when it exploded. She also pleaded with her, though I don't know what Lucie said."

"What… What did she say…?" Bandera asked, though he didn't want to know. He refused to believe that Lucie had last words. She was back at the guild, ready to ridicule him as soon as he got back.

"Told me… To take care of you… That she trusted me…." Nekane mumbled under her breath, coughing as she tried to clear tears from her throat. "I'm sorry…. Mr. Bandera…. So sorry…"

Bandera nodded solemnly. He just stared blankly at the ground in front of him, inspecting a patch of grass that was there, watching as it leaned over in the still of the morning, a bit of dew forming on the end of the blade. "We need to get back to the guild and tell everyone what we found…" he murmured.

Tad's eyes dropped to the ground and he let out a small, inaudible sigh. He wanted more than anything to help Bandera, but he didn't even know Lucie, even though she was apparently always around. He was grateful that she had given her life to save them, though.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Hope you enjoyed the chapter, guys! Sorry if it's a bit… Bad? I'm just coming off of being sick and most of this was written when I was high on cold medicine and I rewrote a lot of it today to make it better, but I don't know. It seems fine to me. If I get complaints, I take it down and rewrite it when I get better. :D Erm, not much to say for this note, probably because my head still hurts and I can't really think of anything to say. Two big things, though. _

_*****First. The OC applications for Hydra Dusk are open now and the rules and form are on my profile. Be sure to read everything before sending me an OC. If it breaks one of my rules, you'll have to change things. I may take some time to get back to you on your OC if I start feeling unwell again.*****_

_*****QUESTION TIME! This is for all readers, feel free to PM or review with it. What, in your opinion is unnecessary filler? By unnecessary, I mean, you don't even want to read it? I just wanna get an idea of what I shouldn't write. I've got lots of ideas for cute things and stuff, but I don't want it to be annoying to you guys.*****_

_To be fair and answer my own question, just for you guys that are interested. I don't find anything unnecessary if involves the characters in some way, even if it's just the environment around the characters. You want to write a few paragraphs of a characters daily wake-up or bedtime routine because you feel like it, go ahead! I love any and all character development, so nothing is too much to me. That's kinda why I'm asking this question. XD_

_**Review Responses:**_

_**As always, tons and tons of thanks from me! It means so much to me and love all of you for it! Lots and lots of love from me! If my responses are a bit short it's because I still can't think straight, completely. Haha. Also, I PMed a lot of people about various things and if I haven't PMed you back, send your PM again. I lost track of what I was doing. X_X**_

_La Maitresse' Dame – Haha. Thanks. I think it would be a pretty concept and I love restaurants that let you eat outside, so I figured why not make a restaurant that's completely outside? XD Yeah. I like having a few characters like Vaerith in stories because pervy comedy is the best. :P _

_LightAndDarkHeart – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter so much! Hopefully the story will continue to be enjoyable for everyone._

_MyDearWatson – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! Yeah, some experiment/zombie-folk will be a lot harder than others, but I had this idea in the last version of Silver Griffin and I wanted to refine it and I took inspiration from a video game called "The Evil Within" when doing so._

_FrozenBlast13 – I'm really happy that I wrote Isoko well. I plan to show her a lot more in this arc and yeah. I didn't want the introduction arc to be just introductions and such. I can't go long without writing a battle scene or two. :P_

_JustanSpecialist – I'm really happy that you enjoyed the first arc! Hopefully it will only get better from here on out! XD_

_Baren – I'm really happy you like Nekane! :3_

_Puffypuffin3 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! Team Bandera-which will soon have an actual name within the next four or five chapters- is really fun to write because of the mix of personalities on it. Sorry about the updates slowing down. I'm starting to feel better so hopefully I'll get at least three more chapters out before I have to get back to school on the 7__th__ of January._

_Cat the Alien – I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Hopefully I'm doing okay with your characters. :3_

_Origm2012 – I don't think it was quite a week's wait. :P I'm getting better so maybe I'll get another one out before Christmas. :D_

_Reven228 – I'm really happy that you're looking forward to everything! I've got a lot planned for this arc and hopefully everyone will enjoy it! :D_

_Barrett M107 – I wanted to go for something creepy with this arc. C: Hopefully it's not too un-canon, even if it does become a bit dark. Nekane and Vaerith are both pretty awesome! I love all of the griffins, though I haven't expanded on some of them very much. :U_

_DarkHyena – I really want to focus and get all of the characters developed with this arc. I didn't mean to focus on some more than others in the introduction, but I wanted something to lead into this arc. ^^;_

_Vaerith – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! :D_

_Master of Anime224 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! Yeah, a lot of stories I've read probably push their rating, but I'm just paranoid about getting it taken down. X_X; And I loved those books when I was younger. XD I hadn't thought about that. :U_

_Zades – I'm so happy that I got him right! I love his personality so hopefully I'll continue to get him right! :D_


	12. Chapter 12

**October 11****th****, X791, midday**

As soon as Winter saw Bandera and his team walk through the doors of the Silver Griffin guild hall, she stood and walked over to them. Her icy eyes instantly landed on Kai's sword that was on Vancha's back, the Exceeds that were on Nekane's and Bandera's head, and Shiloh's keys, which hung from Tad's belt-loop. She then noticed the somber faces of her griffins and the way all of their bodies were beaten and bruised. "Oh… My…" she murmured, tears filling her eyes. "L-let's talk…. Dearies," she said, leading them into the office that was behind the bar, smiling weakly at Cecil, who watched with worried eyes.

Winter closed the door behind them, leaving them alone in the small office, which consisted of a dark wood office table and royal purple, tall-backed, office chair, along with three large, overstuffed royal purple couches that matched the ones in the upstairs lounge and a dark wood and glass coffee-table that was bare. The walls were dark brown with flower printed trim that was multiple shades of purple. Along the west wall were a bunch of small, framed portraits of old, high ranked guild members who had either passed away or left years ago. Along the east wall were four huge framed portraits of the four current S-class mages of the guild.

Winter motioned for the team to sit on the couches, and Vancha, Vaerith and Tad sat on one couch while Nekane, Bandera and the Exceeds sat on another, and Winter sat on the couch that was in the middle of the two.

The elderly guild master didn't speak. She only propped her chin on her walking cane and stared at them as a couple of tears fell from eyes.

Tad was eventually the one to break the silence that filled the room. "We… Didn't find the others… It can be assumed that they were kidnapped," he said, his voice coming out slow and steady. "We… Took a while to get back because we… Came across trouble…" he couldn't finish it as he saw the tears swelling in the eyes of Bandera and Nekane. Luckily, Stella had voice in her.

"Vesta and the others were taken by the people they fought," Stella said, standing up. Vesta had always told her to be strong! Big girls don't cry. Winter needed all of the information so they could decide the next course of action. "His name was Alnon and they were betrayed by someone named Eyren," she explained. "Nikko and I were told to stay outside, so I don't know anything other than that. Vesta screamed for us to go get help."

Winter nodded in understanding and the Exceed continued.

Stella explained everything that had happened, including Three and how Cain was with them originally, but he hadn't returned since Three had destroyed him. She ended with telling her about the giant and how Lucie had apparently sacrificed herself to allow them to live.

Nekane was sobbing at this point, but she spoke up. "I-If Lucie hadn't did what she did… I don't think we w-would've lived…" she sputtered, pulling her bandaged knees up to her chest.

"And you're… Sure…?" Winter asked, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

Vaerith saw a box of tissues on the office desk and he stood, wobbling on his feet a bit, and grabbed the box, passing tissues to Bandera, Winter, Nekane, Stella and Nikko, who were all crying. He then sat back down, his eyes dropping to the ground. He didn't know the mages he was searching for and he didn't know Lucie, so he felt kind of… odd. He didn't know how to mourn for those whom he didn't know, but he wanted to cry just because of the sounds of crying in the room.

Vancha was silent, a serene look on his face. He wasn't sure how to act in this situation.

Tad was somber, his eyes dark and on the ground. It was obvious that he was hurting, but he wasn't quite as expressive as the others in the room.

"I'm sure…" Bandera eventually spoke, swiping at his eyes. "I… I don't feel her anymore. I could always sort of feel her presence…. And…. And… I don't…" his voice faded as he spoke and he found himself covering his mouth as he sobbed.

Winter's eyes dropped to the ground. "Would you like us to hold a funeral for her?" she asked in a soft voice.

Bandera shook his head. "No one knew her but Nekane and me… It would just be pointless confusion…" he mumbled in a hoarse voice. He then stood, his head down. "I'm heading home… Sorry…." With that, he left the room hastily and no one bothered to stop him, knowing that he probably needed his alone time in a situation like this.

"Vancha and Vaerith…" Winter started once the door had closed behind them. When the two newer mages looked to her, she spoke again. "You two plan on staying in the dorms, right?" When they nodded, she continued. "Would you mind checking on him sometimes? There's a list of dorm numbers and who lives where in the lobby."

"No problem," Vaerith responded.

"Okay, Grandma Winter," Vancha said.

Nekane stood now, swiping at her eyes. "I'm s-sorry, Ms. Winter, but I-I need to go h-home," she stammered out, walking over to Winter and hugging her, shutting her eyes tightly. "The a-auras a-are hurting m-me…"

"You'll come check on us sometimes, right, dear?" Winter asked, returning her hug with one arm, sniffling.

"Mmhmm," Nekane nodded, letting Winter go and standing up. "It-It was great working w-with everyone…" she said, looking to Tad, Vancha and Vaerith. When they agreed with her, she turned and left.

"Can we leave their weapons here?" Tad asked, standing and removing Shiloh's tonfas and keys from his person. When Winter nodded, he placed Shiloh's equipment behind the desk and Vancha did the same with Kai's sword.

"Wh-what are w-we gonna do, Stella?" Nikko asked, speaking for the first time in a long time. He had somehow gotten Fame's music lacrima and was hugging it, the headphones wrapped around his shoulders.

"You two can stay with me, if you'd like," Winter offered.

The two Exceeds nodded and silence fell in the room. After a moment, Vancha and Vaerith excused themselves, leaving just Tad, Winter and the Exceeds.

"What's the plan…. Ms. Winter?" Tad asked, his voice flat and void of emotion. He knew that Winter was upset, but he also knew that they didn't need to waste time in forming a team to find the missing griffins.

"I…I don't know…" Winter mumbled, resting her forehead on her cane and letting out a long, tired sigh.

* * *

><p>Crystal had stopped by the office door when she saw Nekane leave and had listened in on most of the conversation. After Tad finally left, Crystal leaned against the wall and rolled her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a small sigh. She then looked around the guild hall. There weren't that many mages to choose from and even less that would probably do more than glare at her, but she would have to make do.<p>

With another sigh, she pushed past Cecil and first walked over to the table where Penny, Sayomi, Henri and Mercy sat, all reading in silence. She placed her hand on their table to grab their attention and they all looked up at her slowly, and Mercy was the first one to speak.

"Good morning, Ms. Crystal!" she greeted, even though it wasn't morning.

Crystal nodded in acknowledgement at Mercy and then pressed her lips into a thin line. Maybe they needed more than just four mages, just in case they got two different leads. After a minute, her eyes landed on Isoko and Elizabeth, who were at bar. "Come over here, you two," she called after Elizabeth's eyes landed on her.

Luckily, Isoko had just finished a level in her game, so she had no problem putting away her gaming lacrima and following Elizabeth over to the table.

"I have something to ask of you six," Crystal said, staring down upon the six griffins that she had gathered in front of her. "I will personally pay you six based on your success," she quickly threw in before she forgot.

"Oooohhh…. A guild master mission!" Mercy cheered, clapping her hands together as her eyes sparkled.

"Quiet, girl," Crystal scolded. She then turned. "Follow me upstairs. I must tell you six this mission in private, as Winter does not need to know about this," she said in a low voice. With that, she led the six griffins upstairs, not even noticing as most of them exchanged wary looks before following her.

She led them all the way up to the third floor, letting them into the floor that was a home for Winter, Crystal and Cantrelle. She let them into a livingroom, which had a soft, white sectional sofa that had a decorative blue and pink quilt thrown over the back of it. The house itself had brown wooden floors and light cream walls with snowflake trim. Apart from the sofa, the livingroom had a long, wooden coffee table, a large tv lacrima, a couple of huge bookshelves stuffed with books, and a thirty-gallon fish aquarium with a bright lavender light and various tropical fishes in it. The walls were decorated with many framed photos, a lot of which were of various griffins.

"Sit down," Crystal motioned towards the couch. "I'll make tea," she then said, disappearing through a doorway the led to the kitchen.

All of the griffins sat down as told, Elizabeth and Isoko just kicking back lazily, while Henri sat in a sort of awkward fashion, hugging himself, Sayomi and Mercy just plopped down and Penny sat like a proper lady, folding one leg over the other and resting her hands in her lap, her back straight.

"What do you think we're about to have to do?" Sayomi asked, speaking to no one in particular. She had been a member for a fairly long time and she could never recall a situation where Crystal asked any of the guild members to take a mission, much less assigned them a mission. She always seemed to hate the guild members, pretty much.

"I…I don't know…" Henri responded, staring down at the table blankly. He was in the same position as Sayomi. He had been a member for a bit and he had never really seen Crystal have extended interaction with guild members. Most of the guild members actually seemed to dislike her.

"I bet it's gonna be fun," Mercy commented, playing with the ends of her skirt.

"Mercy, dearest, you must know that the way you sit… With such a short skirt, it is most inappropriate," Penny pointed out. If someone was in front of them, they would undoubtedly be able to see up Mercy's skirt. She then cleared her throat. "I mean, you should at least cross your legs or somethin'."

Mercy blinked, tilted her head in confusion and then realized what Penny was talking about. "Oh, Blair is always telling me to be more girly, too," she said with a small giggle. She then shifted so that her legs were at least pressed together.

Crystal returned to the room with a tray of cups and after pouring cups for all of the griffins, she sat in between them, with Henri, Mercy and Penny on one side of her, and Sayomi, Isoko and Elizabeth on the other side of her. "Now… About your mission…" she started, taking a sip of her tea, her eyes on the ground. "How many of you know that we've had two teams of griffins out on a job for a while?"

Everyone but Isoko and Elizabeth raised their hands. When Crystal looked around, she nodded in understanding. "That's good enough. Anyway, two teams of our supposed strongest mages have been out tracking some goings-on in the mountains near here and they were kidnapped by a dark guild that they had a run in with."

Crystal didn't give any of her team time to respond. "Now… I'm not going to be so haste as to send you six straight into the mountains…. My sister is really naïve about that sort of thing. She doesn't understand that even if you kids sport the same guild mark, that doesn't mean you just instantly know how to work together."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "So… I'm going to take time out of my schedule to train you six over the next three days before I'm going to send you into the mountains to find the missing teams." When she saw Penny opening her mouth to speak, she placed a finger over her lips. "I know this isn't a lot of time, but during this time, I will come up with some documents to help guide you in your travels. My sister was quite close to all of the mages that are missing and I know that she will let her emotions rule her in this event, so I'm taking control and I am confident that you six, by the end of three days when you leave, will be able to find the missing griffins."

"Three days doesn't seem like a lot," Elizabeth commented, fiddling with the end of one of her colorful braids.

"I know, that's why… Starting when we leave here, I will be taking you to my personal training grounds, where we will stay for a few days. Then I will send you six on your way," Crystal explained.

* * *

><p>After the group finished their tea, Crystal led them all the way back downstairs and out of the front doors of the guild hall. She led them to the east wall of the guild hall, where, after brushing some dust away, they saw a small iron door with a light blue lock on it. Crystal leaned down with a small grunt as her back protested her, and after a pale blue magic circle appeared over the lock, it vanished, causing the door to open with the creaking of rusted hinges.<p>

The griffins could not see far into the hole that was beneath the door, but they could see stairs that appeared to lead beneath the guild hall.

"Oooohhhh… Secrets?" Mercy asked, stepping forward. However, she didn't have time to receive her answer as her foot caught on a small pebble on the ground and she let out a small yip as she fell forward, her skirt flying upwards to reveal many different frills.

Henri's face turned bright red and he looked away nervously, while everyone apart from Crystal sweat-dropped at Mercy's clumsiness. A vein on Crystal's forehead swelled and she pulled Mercy out of the hole and back to her feet. "Clumsy girl! Be careful!" she scolded.

Mercy's eyes widened and filled with tears at the harshness Crystal had used to yank her out of the hole and to scold her.

When Crystal saw this, she rubbed her fist into Mercy's hair, glaring. "Don't act so childish! You're fine!" she scolded.

As if being told she was okay made everything better, the tears in Mercy's eyes went away and she nodded. "Okay, Ms. Crystal."

Crystal shook her head, thinking that while most of the griffins she had picked were mild-mannered, Mercy may end up driving her to the crazy house by the end of three days. Still, she figured that Penny, Henri and Sayomi would keep her in check. With a small sigh, she began walking down the steps, with the griffins following in suit.

At first, the stairway was dark, but as they got down further, the door closing behind them, it became lit by pale blue torches, making the dirt walls and black iron steps a bit more visible.

"This seems like it's gonna be a lot of fun," Mercy said, speaking to Henri as she leaned on his shoulder. "What do you think?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Erm… Yeah…" Henri responded nervously, averting his eyes away from Mercy. Even though they had now known each other for a couple of weeks, he was not used to her affection. It was just so foreign to him. She didn't seem to mind his awkwardness, though.

"I'm kinda looking forward to training," Penny commented. She had taken one simple mission since she had joined Silver Griffin and it had been a simple babysitting mission that involved no fighting, so she was ready to prove, mostly to herself, that she was combat-ready.

"Yeah," Elizabeth agreed. "Isn't this one reason you wanted to join Silver Griffin, Isoko?" she asked, turning to her friend, who now had her gaming lacrima out.

Isoko only let a small grunt in response, not taking her eyes off of the screen that she was staring at.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and turned to Sayomi. "Have you been a member of this guild long?" she asked.

Sayomi was off in her own little world when Elizabeth spoke to her, but she jumped and turned to her when she spoke. "Yeah… I've been a member for about six or so years now," she responded.

"How is it?" she then asked.

"It's… Fun," Sayomi replied after a moment of nervous laughter. "It's not as quiet as it used to be, but there are also less guild fights, since the feistier mages are mostly off on missions now."

"It seems pleasant. Though I may only be speaking for the table in which I sit," Penny said, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Oh," Mercy's eyes flashed for a moment before she turned to Penny. "Where is Gwen today?" she asked. She hadn't even noticed that the quiet mage had been missing from their usual table this morning.

Penny let out a small sigh. "She had a migraine today, and was scared that the guild would be loud, so she stayed at our dorm."

"You two share a dorm?" Elizabeth asked. "Don't we have plenty of dorms still left?"

"Oh, yes, but unfortunately dearest Gwen finds the ailment of her…" Penny cleared her throat. "I mean, she gets really, really sick sometimes and I'm scared she won't even be able to get out of beds some days."

"That's really sad," Mercy said, her bottom lip poking out a bit.

"You talk weird," Elizabeth stated, furrowing her brows at Penny and how she was just constantly changing her tone of voice.

Penny looked over at Elizabeth and then frowned. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but didn't. Instead, she turned her nose up to Elizabeth and huffed. She needed to get her accent under control. She wanted to break free of her background, she really did.

They didn't have any more time to converse as they now found themselves in a large underground cavern that was lit by bright blue crystals that jutted out of the walls and ceiling randomly. While the cavern looked like one large room, there three doors against the far wall, all made of wood. The floor was flat and apart from a few scuff marks, looked smooth, though the griffins' shoes didn't slide against it.

"The far left door is where we will sleep," Crystal said. "The middle door leads the women's hot-spring while the far right leads to the men's hot spring," she continued to explain.

"This place is amazing!" Sayomi commented, her electric blue eyes almost matching the glow that filled the cave. "What… How…?" she wasn't sure how to talk to Crystal, so she found herself stammering and blushing.

"I made this cave myself when I was in my prime," Crystal responded. "Winter has her fairy-tale castle in the sky and I have my underground sanctuary."

"Castle in the sky?" Isoko asked, tilting her head. That sounded like something from one of her games and it interested her.

"After the first of the year, you will see it," Crystal said. "If that witch decides that she's not too lazy to do the S-class exams this year."

While Sayomi frowned a bit at the mention of the S-class exams, the rest of the group seemed to perk up a bit, but instantly calmed down when Crystal changed the subject.

"If you perform well during training today, I will let you go back to your homes and get some personal items," she said. "But I must request that you not tell anyone that I am training you six. Winter will act all weird and happy and I don't want other guild members wanting to come down here." She then turned towards the griffins and watched them.

"We won't say a thing!" Mercy said cheerfully. "We're Team Crystal so we're super special!"

"My lips are sealed," Henri said.

"I will not tell anyone," Penny said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Me either," Sayomi and Elizabeth said together.

Isoko had put her gaming lacrima up once again and she looked at all of the people that she was working with. "Team Crystal for the win?" she said hesitantly placing her hand out in the middle of the other five mages.

After a moment, a pile of hands was formed in the middle of the griffins and after a nod, they all took their hands back with smiles.

"Okay… So how are we going to train?" Elizabeth asked, turning to Crystal. For a second, she thought she saw a small smile on Crystal's face, but when they made eye contact, it quickly disappeared, like it wasn't even there in the first place.

"Well, there are six of you, so… Break into two teams of three," Crystal said. "First off, though, state your magic. I'll do the teams."

"Arc of embodiment," Sayomi stated.

"Alchemy," Penny said.

"Requip," Isoko said.

"Celestial spirits!" Mercy announced with a cheer.

"Summoning and enchantment," Henri said.

"Elemental," Elizabeth stated.

Crystal blinked and pressed her lips together in a thin line, staring at the mages to the point that it made them uncomfortable. "Sayomi, Isoko and… Penny, work on a team against the other three," she said after a moment. "And then each of you get on one side of the arena and battle each other. This will give me a general idea of some things."

The mages did as told and when Crystal nodded for them to start, Isoko was the first to make a move. "Requip of the Gamer: Monk!" she called as light blue magic circles appeared under her and her body burst into color. When the light dissipated, she was wearing a leather, yellow eastern styled dress that fell just above her knees, a white headband that held her bangs away from her face, black leather gloves and yellow flat shoes.

"Oooh… So awesome!" Mercy cheered. She then pulled out a black key that had a snake head for a handle. "Open the Gate of the Gorgon, Medusa!" she called, twisting the key into a black magic circle. Within a flash of smoke, a woman with the lower end of a snake appeared, wearing nothing but a black vest to cover up her rather large bust and black sunglasses. Her bright red hair cascaded down her back and wiggled in the same fashion as a snake on the ends. She had pale skin and model-like features.

"You called?" she hissed.

"Let's fight with snakes!" Mercy cheered excitedly.

Sayomi reached into an electric blue magic circle and pulled out her scythe, twirling it around as she prepared to fight.

Penny stayed back just a bit, deciding to size up the fight first, though her hands were glowing lightly with her magic.

"Summoning Magic: Steel Golem…" Henri mumbled, as a light green and white magic circle appeared from him and a large, pale green, steel golem fell from it, shaking the ground as it did so.

Elizabeth's fists were on fire and she was waiting for her moment to attack.

"This place is stable. Get as chaotic as you want," Crystal called. She was sitting atop one of the crystals that jutted from the wall, nodding as each mage readied themselves for battle.

Sayomi charged first, unleashing a battle cry as she aimed for Henri, who seemed to have the most unconfident of stances. She knew that they needed to show that they were strong and showing weakness was going to get them nowhere.

The golem intercepted her with its massive body. The sound of metal against metal sounded through the air and echoed in the cave as Sayomi's scythe collided with the steal and after a moment, the golem lifted one of its arms and shot its fist at her.

The fist moved faster than Sayomi expected so she thought she wasn't going to be able to dodge it, but Penny had her back.

"Absorb!" she called as she liquefied the golem's fist and quickly dropped it into a vial. With a quick shake, she passed it to Isoko. "Drink this," she said. When Isoko just stared at it for a moment, Penny added, "It's a defense potion."

"Like an RPG…." Isoko breathed, taking the potion and chugging it. She cringed as the taste of dirt and metal filled her mouth, but she felt her skin harden and she found herself feeling her arm. "So awesome!" she cheered, getting pumped. She then moved forward at a quicken speed and punched the golem, causing it burst into magic, making Henri backpedal.

Sayomi somersaulted past Isoko, but she saw Elizabeth's eyes on her and in an instant, black dragon wings formed on her back and she flew up high just as Elizabeth pressed her hands to the ground and made a pillar of flames shoot out of the ground. Sayomi let out a small gasp as she barely managed to dodge.

Medusa saw that for a second, Isoko was distracted by the pillar of flames, which seemed to dissipate much faster than it should've, and before Isoko could react, she was covered in shadowy snakes that gripped at her, biting her and making her skin burn. "Ahggg…." She groaned. She couldn't feel the pain very much through the defense potion, but that didn't stop her from being restrained.

Penny stepped forward and called out, "Absorb!" attempting to absorb some of the snakes. While she succeeded in removing the snakes, the liquefied snakes burst in her hands, making her jump back in surprise. The magic was something that she hadn't encountered before, and as such, she didn't know how to work with it, apparently.

Seeing the opening in their defense, Elizabeth hands became surrounded by water and with a stomp of her foot, water shot from the ground and caused Isoko and Penny to go flying into the air with shrill screams.

"Summoning Magic: Devour Slime!" Henri called. With the flash of a light green and white magic circle, a large, dark green blob appeared under Isoko and Penny, which they landed in when they landed. Instantly, the slime began to devour their magic reserves, making them grimace and groan in pain.

Sayomi was about to summon up something to help them, but she found herself pulled to the ground by the mouth of a giant snake, making her scream in pain and surprise, her wings and scythe disappearing.

"You think just because you are in the sky that I don't see you?" Medusa hissed, glaring at Sayomi.

"YAY!" Mercy cheered. "This is so much fun, right, Henri?" she asked, jumping onto to Henri. However, she tripped as she did this, and before either of them could determine what was going on, they were on the ground with Mercy giggling and Henri groaning.

Sayomi saw the opportunity and seized it. She turned her arms into shield and pried open the snake's mouth, rolling out of it. On the way down, she conjured up her scythe and used it to land smoothly. She then conjured up a boomerang, and as Elizabeth attempted to use another spell, she threw the boomerang in such a fashion that it flew past Elizabeth, but hit her in the back of the head on the way back, knocking her forward.

Sayomi didn't stop there. She caught the boomerang and then shattered it before stepping forward and with one large swing, scooping up Elizabeth in the curvature of her scythe and throwing her into the Devour Ooze, which Isoko had just finished pulling Penny out of.

Elizabeth's hands burst with wind, but she didn't have time to use them as Penny called out "Absorb!" and took the wind magic, bottling it up in a vial that was already half-filled with a green liquid. She then smirked as she chucked it at Henri and Mercy, who still hadn't managed to get up.

When the vial exploded, a gust of wind burst from it, causing Henri and Mercy to go flying. At the same time, razor-sharp leaves formed in the gusts, cutting into the two mages' skin.

"It's not over yet!" Isoko called, cleaned the gap in between herself and the two mages in just a second. She threw a punch into Mercy's gut, blasting her back even further and then twisted around to slam her leg into Henri's side, bashing him into the ground.

Elizabeth jumped up as the ooze burst into magic dust and attempted to assault Penny, having realized that the woman didn't seem to actually fight. She threw a watery fist at the woman, not very surprised when she struck the woman in the face and with a pulse of water, sent her flying back.

Penny skidded to a stop and wiped her face, looking down at the front of her dress, which was now soaked worse than the rest of her dress. "Ugh!" she pouted, stomping her heel into the ground. "How rude!" she added, pulling out a vial from her belt. She then chucked it towards Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smirked when the vial missed her, but when she didn't hear it hit the ground, she turned around to see that Isoko was holding it.

The requip mage grinned and chugged the bottle, which made one of her fists glow bright red. "A strength potion?" she questioned, looking down at her hand. "I like it, Penny!" she cheered before stepping forward and with one uppercut to the stomach, sending Elizabeth crashing into a nearby wall.

"Naturally, my potions are only the finest, dear," Penny said, flipping her slightly damp hair off of her shoulders. She was surprised at how willing Isoko was to drink her concoctions, but it made her happy. Maybe they would work really well together.

With Elizabeth in a small crater in the wall, Mercy shakily standing as she held her head, dizzy from the assault on her, Henri on the ground, Sayomi now on her knees from overexerting her magic, and both Isoko and Penny still standing, though panting, it was obvious that their training was over.

Crystal hopped down from the crystal in which she sat, bringing her hand up to her back and groaning. She then walked over. "That will do. Go get your things if you wish… I will open the door for all of you," she said.

Mercy snapped out of confusion and skipped over to Crystal, though she was now limping a bit. "Did we do good?" she asked, a hopeful expression in her eyes.

"All of you are weak," Crystal commented. However, when she saw the disappointed of all of the mages that now surrounded her, she averted her eyes and huffed. "You'll do for Team Crystal, though," she added in a small voice.

"YAY!" Mercy cheered, hugging Henri, who ended up leaning on Isoko for support, as he was too weak to support the peppy girl.

Isoko laughed lightly stiffened her arm muscles, trying to support Henri and Mercy.

* * *

><p>Back at the guild hall, things were rather still, with two teams missing, one team having returned and parted to go rest, and another team of mages being away with Crystal. In fact, there was no one at the guild hall at that moment apart from Cecil and Kimi. Winter had went upstairs and Cantrelle had followed her, leaving the two girls alone to stare at the emptiness. It wasn't that late and the sun was just starting to set, so it was unusual.<p>

Kimi was sitting in front of Cecil at the bar with a little pink notebook that was decorated with sparkly cupcake stickers. She was staring at it intently.

"Whatcha got there?" Cecil asked, leaning over the bar and trying to peep into the notebook. It was filled with bubbly, sparkly, pink writing that was so close together that it was hard to read.

"Lookin' at birthdays and special dates," Kimi replied with a smile. "Lizzie, the new girl that joined a few days ago, her birthday is on the fifteenth, but she left with a team earlier," she explained.

"So… Are you trying to figure out if she'll be back in time for her birthday?" Cecil asked.

"Nope!" Kimi responded. "I'm just noting who all she left with so that if they don't know, I can tell them so they'll celebrate," she said.

"Do you make sure not to miss someone's birthday?" Cecil asked with a small laugh.

"Everyone needs to feel special, Cellie," Kimi said, closing her book and tucking it away into a pocket on her coat. "So… Even if someone is completely alone, I'll be there to make them smile!" With that, she got her and started twirling around.

"What about you?" Cecil asked. "Are you ever going to tell anyone your birthday?" she asked. She remembered Winter telling her that Kimi didn't say much about herself.

Kimi stopped and hummed, placing one slender finger on her chin. "It was the fifth, I think," she responded with a small shrug.

Cecil's eyes widened. "And you didn't tell anyone?" she asked, frowning at Kimi.

"Nah," Kimi said with a shrug. "I don't like the spotlight being on me unless it's onstage."

"That's not nice, though," Cecil responded. "I'm sure everyone would have wanted to celebrate. I would've."

Kimi's eyes fell and Cecil's eyes widened once again, wondering what she had said wrong. "He wouldn't have been here, though," Kimi pouted.

"He?" Cecil blinked. She then covered her mouth. "Oh, Kimi, I'm sure he's fine…"

Kimi then pepped back up as if nothing had ever been wrong in the first place. "You're right. He's super-duper strong and I bet he's breaking out of wherever he's held right now!"

* * *

><p>At an unknown location and time, the four griffins who had been taken by the scientists were still unconscious. They were now all stripped of their clothing, with clothes covering their vital parts, and they were partially sitting up, stills strapped in tight.<p>

All of them had odd looking helmets that had a green bar in the front that would occasionally fill with dark purple liquid on their heads. Small masks covered their mouths and noses and a cord was running from the bottom of the mask to glowing lacrima that radiated with sleeping magic, keeping the griffins in a slumber. Each of them had a magic circle on their chest, which was glowing dimly right now.

"Is the experiment coming along nicely?" Alnon asked, staring intently at the four griffins.

"Yes, Master Alnon…" the elderly scientist responded.

"When can I expect this to be complete?" Alnon asked.

"Less than a month, master," the man responded.

This made Alnon smirk.

* * *

><p>In another place at an unknown time, the other four griffins sat in their prison still. All of them were now worn and weak, having not eaten or drank anything for what could have been days. Fame's and Julius's wrists and arms were bathed in blood and they looked in worse condition, as they had put up much more of a fight than Marionette or Shiloh, who both knew that they needed to save their strength for whatever may come.<p>

Still though, just like clockwork, when they saw the flames of the hall outside being lit, Fame and Julius both started trying to tug at their chains, though they barely even moved now, their heads drooped forward, their eyes surrounded by dark circles.

"Jace… Please… You're just making it worse on yourself," Shiloh pleaded. Even if Fame had turned into a different person since she had been close to him, he was still someone she cared deeply for and seeing the blood dripping from his wrists once again and the way his body just fell limply against the wall after a few seconds destroyed her. She then turned to Julius. "You, too, Julius… I know you're smarter than this…"

"Shut up, you," Julius groaned, though he stopped. He then let out a sigh. "We're going to rot in this cell…" he stated.

"Yep," Fame huffed. He felt like he was going to pass out and he looked up through his hair to see that by his posture and face, Julius was in the same condition. He needed food or water or something. His arms and shoulders hurt so bad that it made him angry. He was an S-class mage. Why the hell was in this shape?!

"Perfectly optimistic," Marionette mumbled under breath. She had long since lost her patience and didn't really speak much. However, these moments of Shiloh pleading and Fame and Julius losing hope were becoming more common and it annoyed her.

Shiloh's head dropped and she let out sigh. Someone had to come save them. She had faith in her guild.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hi, guys~ Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D I had fun writing this. Team Crystal FTW, yo. X3 Next chapter is going to be so much fluff. Just sayin'.  
><em>

_-Hydra Dusk Submissions are still open. Form and rules on my profile. C:_

_-I don't know if I've ever said this, but if you guys ever see problems with my writing, like the way I do breaks or the way I word things or the length of my chapters… ANYTHING, tell me. We learn from our mistakes and if you guys don't tell me when I mess up. Don't be too harsh, though. D: I'm really sheepish, and there are nice ways to word bad things! D:_

_-HAPPY HOLIDAYS!_

**_Review Responses:_**

**_As always, thank you so much, you guys! :3 So much love from me! X3 Thank you so much for the opinions on fillers! It helps me so much to know things like that from you guys! ((I swear I am not still high on cold medicine. I'm happy to be better and listening to pop music and stuff and just generally happy at this moment. C:))_**

_La Maitresse' Dame – Awww… Poor Fame… But he deserves it. He's a total asshole sometimes. XD Yeah, I felt that was being a bit dry with romance after realizing that while, yes, I am only 12 chapters in, they are loooong chapters, so it's really more like 20 chapters, if I would've kept my original word count limit of 5k. I have some planned for this arc. :3_

_MyDearWatson - I'm really happy to hear that you liked the chapter. And yeah. I'm not gonna be directly answering any questions regarding spoilers, but I will make sure to note any questions that pop up in reviews to make sure that I cover them thoroughly in the story. :3_

_FrozenBlast13 – I'm really happy you liked the chapter. And yep… Hydra Dusk is a really crazy guild, yo. I hope I did okay with Isoko this chapter, since it shows a lot more of her._

_JustanSpecialist – I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter. Yeah. Most of my chapters will tend to be a mix of anything. And the scene between Nekane and Bandera was really fun. :P_

_Vaerith – Yeah. There are going to be some crazy enemies this arc. :P And I'm really happy to hear that. With so many people being okay with filler-type things, it makes me feel freer with my writing. X3_

_Origm2012 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! :D_

_Death Obelisk – Thank you~ And who knows what will become of all of thee hostage griffins. :P And I don't plan anything that's not like development in some way. It's just that it will be like, cute friendship or romantic moments. Which really, I don't know if romance of any kind would be filler, since the first genre to the fic is "Romance", haha._

_LightAndDarkHeart – I'm really happy you feel that way. It makes me really happy to see that a lot of people don't mind filler. Hehe. You may have to stay on edge for just a little longer before you see what happens. :P_

_DarkHyena – I'm happy you liked the chapter. I hope I did okay with Mercy this chapter. :D_

_Puffypuffin3 – Uhg… I don't really like the name of the arc, but I'm terribad with names, so I just rolled with it. XD My fail with names is why I generally don't name chapters. And thank you~_

_Barrett M107 – Yeah… Some of the chapters in this story will get a bit dark. Hehe. I have a tendency to make dark fight scenes and diabetic-fluffy romance. :U And I'm happy I'm doing good with Vancha. I think I'm getting more comfortable with him. All of my fillers will be canon and development. The main thing I'm worried about people disliking will be like, friendship development and stuff that may be planned. Sort of like the scene with Kimi and Cecil in this chapter. You learn that Kimi is a bit selfless and such, but at the same time, it's not really necessary to the story at hand and it's not really developing romance either, which is the other genre for the story._

_Master of Anime224 – I fixed it! Thank you for pointing it out! I didn't catch it when I did editing things. X_X I've thought that, because it says that "lemons" and such aren't allowed because that's "Adult", not "M", but I know I see quite a few one-shot, nothing but lemon fics around. I've not seen anything that bad in something T-rated. :I I'm probably just paranoid, haha._

_Reven228 – I questioned if something like that would be a bit too early, but I need it to happen for plot things and no one would really be that hurt anyway with this death, other than Bandera and Nekane, since no one else can see or hear her. ; n ; The main things that I have planned for this arc will be during "down time", like where they have no leads on Hydra Dusk, or are moments in the guild for the members who are on standby and such. I don't plan to drag anything along. I don't see the point in that, especially since this is just the first book of a two-five book series and I can just go into the next book or something. Everything that may be filler will serve some sort of purpose, I'm not good with just out of the blue stuff, anyway._


	13. Chapter 13

**October 12****th****, X791, midday**

As the sun shone brightly into the small dorm room, Vancha stood in the middle of the room, staring at the round clock that hung from the wall. It was making nearly inaudible ticking noises every second and he was trying to figure out how he had slept to thirty minutes past noon when he had retired to his dorm, which was on the second floor of the dorm building, fairly early. It was a simple room, with a twin-sized bed that had a simple iron bedframe and white bed-dressings, a desk and chair set that was barren, save for the small, purple and beige pet-bed that he had purchased for Momo, along with a closet that was left open with a few clothing articles thrown in the bottom of it-with some of them spilling onto the floor- and a nightstand that had a simple lamp on it, which had never been touched. All of the furniture was made of dark wood and despite the fact that the floors, walls and windows had been repaired, the furniture had not, so it was all a little worn, with scuff marks and scratches in it.

Vancha was a simple person, and as such, he really didn't know how to decorate or really do anything to make the dorm room look more like it actually belonged to him, as suggested by one of the females that he had passed when coming to his dorm for the first time. The floors were light orange-brown hardwood and he had thought briefly about something to make the floors softer, and the walls were a simple cream colored with no trim or anything, as the griffins were expected to do whatever they wanted with the room, and that included painting it if they wished.

Deciding that it was something he would save for another day when he could find someone in the dorm to help him, he combed through his fingers with his hair and walked towards the door. After he opened it, he turned and looked at Momo, who hadn't moved from her bed.

The small squirrel looked up at him and if to reinforce her decision to be lazy, she stretched, yawned and curled back up.

Vancha grinned at her, but didn't say anything as he left, not bothering to lock his door, as he didn't know that to be a common practice.

As he walked, he could feel that his body was still somewhat sore and bruised, but he was recovering fast. This made him think of how the others were doing and he thought about going to check on all three of them, but he didn't have time to try to remember where Winter had said they could find a list of the names, as a tiny, black wolf puppy came barreling towards him, slamming into his shins with a small yip.

Vancha tilted his head and bent down to pick it up, staring at its shiny black eyes, which were barely noticeable in its scruffy black fur. "Hi," he greeted the puppy with a grin.

"Thanks, bro!" Vaerith called, running towards Vancha, stopping when he got to the other male. When he stopped, he rested his palms on his knees and panted for a moment. It took a lot out of him to run with his injuries not being healed completely.

"Is this yours?" Vancha asked, handing the puppy to Vaerith, who sat her on his head.

"Yeah, her name is Nyx," Vaerith replied with a grin that couldn't be seen under his mask. "I left her behind when I got caught up with joining the guild and all and now she wants exercise."

Vancha simply grinned in response.

"Are you headed to the guild?"

"Going to check on Bandera," Vancha responded.

"Bandera is here," a voice said from behind them. They turned and saw Bandera, in clothing similar to what he had worn on their mission, walking towards them.

"Hey, bro!" Vaerith greeted. "You feelin' okay?"

Bandera rubbed the back of his head and forced a smile. The lines under his eyes were noticeable and his skin was a bit paler than normal. "Yeah… Just gonna go out for a bit. Tad woke me up a few hours ago and said that staying cooped up is bad." he said. It was weird to not have Lucie nagging at him for every little thing he said. It hurt. A lot.

"Want us to come?" Vaerith asked. "We could totally go check out some ladies or somethin'," he added with a huge grin.

Normally, Bandera would have been ecstatic to have someone to go out on the town with like that, but not now. Instead, he shook his head. "Nah. I need to do some stuff on my own." With that, he forced another quick smile and walked hastily past them, glad that the stairs were near so that he could run down them and avoid the eyes of Vaerith and Vancha.

"Do we go with him?" Vancha asked.

"Nah," Vaerith responded. "He needs his time. If he's not back or something by night, we'll go look for 'em."

* * *

><p>Not long after that, Vancha decided to go to the guild hall because he really didn't have anything else to do. Upon walking into the guild, he saw that there were a few mages here and there, sitting in groups. However, he saw one mage alone at a table with a few books stacked up next to her and after a moment, he decided to go sit with her, since the missions still hadn't been posted on the board, yet, so it wasn't like that was an option for him.<p>

When Vancha sat next to her, Gwen looked up, pushing the glasses back up on her nose and tilting her head. "Hello," she greeted in a small voice.

"Hi," Vancha returned her smile with his normal, goofy grin. He sat down and stared at the books for a moment, squinting at the writing.

Gwen watched him for a few seconds before she closed her own book and picked up the book. "Have you read _365 Blossoms_?" she asked with a tiny smile.

"I can't really read," Vancha replied, staring at the shiny pink letters of the book, and the picture of a man bending a woman over and pressing his lips to hers as pink cherry blossoms surrounding them.

Gwen's eyes widened and she put the book down. "Really?" she asked. She then hesitated, adjusting her glasses and staring at her pile of books. She really couldn't imagine a life without knowing how to read, but she knew she needed to be understanding. "I-I can teach you, if you'd like."

"Do I need to know how to read?' Vancha asked.

"Of course!" Gwen insisted as she pulled out a hot pink Mocha the Bear themed backpack from under her table and pulled out a notebook and two pencils. "Reading unlocks a world of magic that couldn't even be thought of in this world!"

Vancha blinked at her, a goofy smile still on his face as he didn't know what she meant.

"Like, this book," she picked up the book that he had been staring at. "This is the story of a woman who has been given only a year to live and she's never fallen in love before, but one of the nurses that attends to her falls in love with her, and promises her for the next year, he will do something special and romantic on every single day, and that they'll fall in love. And then they end up falling love over the year, but then it's really tragic because she ends up passing away from her illness, but the story is touching, and romance isn't like that in the real world, you know?"

By the end of her explanation, her eyes were filled with tears and Vancha was confused as to why.

"Why would you read something that makes you sad?" Vancha asked.

Gwen removed her glasses, which Vancha picked up, and wiped her eyes. "Because… Sometimes we feel like we are the people in the story books," she responded in a softer tone. While no one had ever given her a set time to live due to her illness, they had told her that if it continued to get worse, she would die prematurely from it. It was rare that she thought about it, though, as she tried her best not to.

Vancha once again wasn't sure what she meant, but he was now interested in the bright pink framed glasses. He put them on his face, squinting as it made his vision extremely blurry. "You see out of these?" he asked.

Gwen looked over at him and seeing how silly the girly frames looked on a fairly masculine man made her giggle. "My eyes are bad," she explained. In fact, while she could tell that he looked silly, everything was cloudy for her. She then reached for them. "May I have them back?" she asked.

Vancha handed them to her, blinking as his eyes adjusted to not being really blurry. He resulted in having to swipe at them and blink several times.

Gwen put them back on her face and then turned to Vancha, giggling again at how he was wiping at his eyes. "I'm Gwen, by the way. I don't think I've met you before."

"I'm Vancha," he replied, fiddling with his dog-tags.

"So… Do you want me to teach you how to read?" Gwen asked with a smile. "There are happy things in stories, too. And adventure stories, scary stories. Pretty much anything that you can think of."

"Sure," Vancha responded with a grin.

With that, Gwen moved over so that she was on the same side of the table with him and opened up her notebook to a blank page. She took one pencil for herself and then handed him the other one. "Can you write your name or anything like that?"

"Yeah," Vancha responded. With that, he took the pencil and scribbled his name in fairly messy, large letters.

"Okay," Gwen said. She then thought for a moment, fiddling with the end of headband. She thought back to when her mom had taught her how to read and write. It was so long ago that she could barely remember and she wondered just how basic she needed to start with Vancha. After a minute, she spoke again. "Do you know the alphabet?" she asked.

Vancha seemed to think about this for a second before nodding. "Write it?" he asked. When Gwen nodded, he scribbled out the letters in the alphabet with some of them being uppercase and some being lowercase.

"Do you know all of the upper and lower cases?" Gwen asked after examining his writing.

Vancha scratched his head and shrugged in response.

Gwen looked at him and found herself giggling again. "Are you always smiling?" she asked. She hadn't seen that grin falter since she had started talking to him.

"Yeah," Vancha responded.

Gwen giggled again at this and then turned her attention back to the paper. She then wrote out all of the alphabet and then began explaining the basic use of upper versus lower case to him, writing out examples. She had to switch her writing from small cursive to normal letters when Vancha seemed to get confused, which made her laugh some more.

* * *

><p>Gwen continued to teach Vancha up until the sun was setting, when she started feeling hungry and upon hearing Vancha's stomach growl, she stood. "Would you like to go get something to eat with me?" she asked timidly.<p>

Vancha didn't necessarily catch the timid tone of her voice, but he noticed that she was blushing. "Are you okay?" he asked, thinking that she was probably tired or sick, as that was what he associated blushing with.

"Y-yeah," Gwen said, covering her cheeks, hoping to hide the blush, which she was certain that he had noticed.

Vancha didn't question it further and instead followed her out of the guild hall and to a small restaurant that was down the street, a couple of blocks away from the guild.

The restaurant was named M and M's Kitchen and it was located in a small, one story building with two large windows on either side of the brown, wooden door that was decorated with various cookie designs. In the left window, there was a display of cookies and various pastries that were baked and then put up for sell. Through the right window, one could see all of the little diner-styled high tables with pink chairs that had heart-shaped backs, along with the booths, that set in front of beige tables, with pink cookie-print seats.

"Do you have types of food you prefer?" Gwen asked, turning to Vancha. "This place serves sweet dishes."

"Food is food," Vancha said with a shrug. This was his way of stating that he didn't care.

Gwen laughed lightly at this and then led them into the small restaurant, where a waitress instantly ran up to them, her round, bright violet eyes sparkling with joy.

The waitress, along with her bright eyes, had tumbleweed colored hair that was pulled pack into a bun on top of her head, with her bangs forming a v-shape on her forehead and a few loose, straight locks framing her face. She was dressed in a white tube-top shirt and a cookie print, beige high-riding, pleated skirt that fell to her knees, along with white stockings and brown Mary-Jane styled shoes. "Welcome!" she greeted, her small, glossy lips smiling at Gwen.

Since she had joined, Gwen-and sometimes Penny or other members of the guild-would come to the restaurant, so the waitress, whose name was Maya, knew her fairly well. The restaurant itself was ran by Maya and her mother, Macey. While Maya was the face of the restaurant, Macey and a couple of hired workers made all of the food.

When Maya saw Vancha beside Gwen she got this odd cheeky grin on her face and leaned in close to Gwen's ear. "Is this someone speeecial?" she whispered, rolling her tongue at the end of her sentence.

Gwen's face turned bright red and she stepped back, waving her hands dismissively. "N-no. H-he's a g-guildmate," she stammered.

Maya laughed and skipped back. "Joking, joking~" she practically sung. She then grabbed two menus off of a little shelf that was near the door. "Right this way." With that, she led them to one of the booths and after they sat down, she asked, "What will you two be having to drink?"

"I'll take strawberry lemonade, thank you," Gwen responded with a small smile.

"Me, too," Vancha said, before Maya could even tell him, as a new patron, what they had.

"Okay! I'll be with you in a second!" Maya said, bowing and then skipping off.

Gwen had been turned towards Maya, but once she was gone, she turned back towards Vancha and instantly let out a surprised squeal when she saw a man dressed in mostly black, save a turquoise jacket, behind Vancha. She covered her mouth and blushed when she saw the man jump in surprise, dark lines running down his forehead.

"Damn, chick, sorry," Vaerith said with a small chuckle. He then leaned down, propping on the back of Vancha's booth. "Who's the cutie, Vancha?" he asked, grinning under his mask.

Vancha twisted around and blinked. "Cutie?" he questioned. He then realized that Vaerith's eyes were on Gwen and he answered, "This is Gwen. She's teaching me how to read and write."

"Is that slang for something?" Vaerith asked, smirking deviously. "Reading her body or something, maybe…?"

"Huh?" Vancha tilted his head, generally confused by Vaerith's perverted nature.

However, Gwen wasn't really that naïve and she found herself sitting stiffly in her seat, her face steaming. Her hands were gently adjusting her scarf so that none of her cleavage was showing.

"Oh, c'mon. You don't have to hide being with a chick with a rack like that," Vaerith said.

"Rack?" Vancha was becoming more and more confused.

"Oh, gosh, you're just as bad as Tad," Vaerith mumbled, his grin fading. "Well, Bandera's my last hope. I'm gonna go wait around for him or try to make some competent guy friends." And then he was gone, just as quickly as he had appeared. One could wonder if he had been following the two just to be annoying, as it was a possibility.

"What's a rack, Gwen?" Vancha asked once Vaerith was gone.

Gwen's face had been fading to its normal color after Vaerith started leaving, but at Vancha's question, she froze, her eyes turning to dots and her mouth turning into a tight squiggle. "Erm… It's a shelf," she answered.

"Shelf?" Vancha asked, thinking of how Vaerith knew that Gwen had a nice shelf. Eventually, he came to his own conclusion. "You must have your room decorated nicely!"

"Wh-what?" Gwen stammered. She then let her forehead hit the table. "I'm gonna die…" she mumbled to herself. She didn't know whether to laugh at Vancha's cluelessness or cry from embarrassment.

"Do I need to get a doctor?" Vancha asked, completely serious.

This made Gwen giggle and her embarrassment faded away. She sat up, adjusted her glasses and smiled cheerfully. "No, no. I'm fine, Vancha," she answered. She made a note in her head that on top of teaching him how to read and write more, she would need to teach Vancha some social skills, as he seemed to be lacking. Then again, she kind of found it amusing, so maybe she could hold off on teaching that for a bit.

* * *

><p>After parting from Vancha and Vaerith, Bandera left the dorms and for a moment, he thought about going to the guild and letting Cecil and Winter that he was okay, but he had decided that he just didn't feel like it. So, instead, he had set out straight for Nekane's cottage.<p>

Now, he was in front of the door, knocking and waiting for a response.

"Mr. Bandera?" Nekane asked, coming out of the little cottage with a questioning look on her face. Her pink eyes had dark circles under them and instead of being dressed in her normal sun-dress, she was dressed in a white tank-top and white short-shorts. Her hair was messy and uncombed and the braid wasn't there. Her face was still bruised and the gash under her eye was still there. Her legs and arms weren't bandaged anymore, so many cuts and bruises were visible.

"You look… Nevermind," Bandera said, realizing that he didn't look that much better, most likely. "Can I talk to you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Nekane said, moving and letting him in. Her cottage was messy, filled with books in random places. Most were opened with little notes scribbled in the margins. The small girl instantly ran over to her bed and got in it, curling her knees to her chest.

Bandera stared at the books and after sitting down at the little table and after looking at a few of them, he realized that she was still researching demons and dark magic. "What are studying this stuff for?" he asked.

Nekane was silent until Bandera's eyes landed on her, his brows furrowing. "I… Wanna bring her back…" she eventually mumbled, averting her gaze, resting her chin on her knees. "I… Thought I could learn a spell or something to return demons to this world…"

"That's… Dangerous," Bandera said, frowning at her. A part of him felt touched at the fact that she was still trying to help him, but he was mostly annoyed that she was probably attempting to learn some pretty forbidden spells.

"Yeah… But… I wanna help you," she responded. "I… Don't want someone like you to hurt, and it's all my fault that she's gone." With that, tears filled her eyes and she buried her face into her knees.

"It…It's not your fault," Bandera said, his eyes falling to the ground. "She did it on her own. She knew what she was doing and she wanted to save us..."

"Wh-what did you need me to talk to me about?" she eventually asked, wanting to change the subject if possible.

"How… How far can your magic go with changing the emotions of others?" Bandera asked in a low voice. "I… I want this pain to stop…"

"No," Nekane said before he could say anything else. "Stopping the process of mourning is not something that I will do."

"Why not?"

"If you don't mourn properly, your aura won't heal right."

"Wouldn't you be able to fix that, too?"

"No… I won't do it," Nekane said, her voice becoming firm, though it was still low in tone.

"I thought you wanted to help me?" Bandera eventually asked, the desperation audible in his voice. He just wanted the pain to be over. He knew that Nekane was capable of it. He just wanted her to hold him and use her magic and make everything better.

Nekane stared at him for a moment, her face unreadable as she held her chin down so that her bangs shaded her eyes. "I've helped all I can…" she responded. "My work with Silver Griffin is done."

"What?!" Bandera's voice rose. "You're just going to leave now? When our guild is having so many problems?!"

"It's not place to deal with it," Nekane mumbled, her face still unreadable. "I can't handle dark auras."

"So you're just going to be selfish and run away?" Bandera asked, his tone harsh.

Nekane winced, as his words stung. "Yeah."

Bandera glared at her. "I really took you for someone else, you know," he mumbled, before turning to leave, making sure to have his back to her before his eyes glossed over with tears. He needed to leave. He didn't really want to fight with her. He made it to the door before he felt Nekane grab the back of his shirt, balling her fists around it.

"I'm sorry…." She whimpered, pressing her forehead into his back. "I… I don't mean that… I-I… I want to help… I w-will help, when I get b-better… I just w-wanted to help you, f-first… B-but I d-don't know how…"

Bandera swiped at his eyes before turning around. "It's fine…" he mumbled, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "I-I'll be fine… Just g-give me time…"

Nekane nodded, swallowing back her tears. His aura was still so warm, even though she could feel so much sadness, too. She wanted to help him, but she knew that was a bad use of her magic. She had seen distorted auras that hadn't healed properly. Magic couldn't heal grief; only time truly healed wounds like that.

For a few seconds, the two only stood, Bandera with his head leaning on the top of Nekane's, and Nekane's face buried in his chest, both crying silently.

Nekane eventually broke the silence, pulling back and looking up at him. "I-I made s-something…" she stammered. "F-For Lucie…" she added.

"Really?" Bandera asked, letting go of her, albeit reluctantly. Even if the occasion was sad, just being with her brought him comfort.

Nekane nodded and led him outside, behind her house, his eyes widening at the little shrine that was now behind Nekane's house.

It was a crude shrine due to lack of materials, but it consisted of three large stones in a triangular formation, with a framed picture that was a slightly childish, colored drawing of Lucie in a pretty black and purple frame that resembled the Lolita style, like the dress she had worn. There were purple and green flowers planted around it and a pale purple heart that had "Rest in peace, dearest friend. Sign, the green witch," written inside of it in bubbly letters was drawn on the lower left stone. The upper stone had "LUCIE" written on it giant black letters that Nekane had attempted to make fancy, though there were some mess-ups here and there. A golden bell on a black handle sat in front of the picture.

Bandera walked over to the shrine, tears in his eyes. "Nekane… This is amazing…" he mumbled through his tears.

"I couldn't sleep and I thought this would help me cope… Or something," Nekane mumbled, walking over to the little shrine. "You can sign the other rock," she said, walking over and picking up purple, green, and black markers that were behind the shrine.

Bandera nodded, taking the green marker and walking over. He thought for a moment before writing, "Lucie, thank you so much for being there for me, and for everyone in the end. You won't be forgotten, best friend. Rest in peace." He thought about what else he could write, but at that moment, his head was blank. He eventually resulted in putting the marker down, grabbing the bell and ringing it and then bowing his head, wishing Lucie the best in her afterlife.

"You're welcome to come back anytime," Nekane offered. "Maybe I'll have it looking better," she added.

"Thank you…" Bandera said, putting the cap on the marker and handing it back to her. "It means a lot to me… I'm sure Lucie would have been flattered, too, even though she probably would have just accused you of being a green witch or something," he said, laughing lightly at end of his sentence.

"It was nothing," Nekane said. Her eyes then dropped to the ground before she spoke again. "Even though I didn't know her long, I could tell that Lucie was really caring and nice."

"Yeah," Bandera responded, wiping at his eyes again. He then walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. "Thank you… So much… For everything…" he said, resting his head on top of hers.

Nekane didn't say anything; she just buried her face into his chest and smiled to herself.

* * *

><p>"I-I've got the first aid kit!" Henri called as he sprinted awkwardly over to the other members of Team Crystal. They were all surrounding Mercy, who was on the ground with a pretty serious cut on the front of her shin. They had been training all day-into the night, probably, just as they did the previous day and Mercy had gotten really excited and ended up jumping around and falling really hard, right on a jagged rock that was jutting out of the ground. And while they had all been injured during training, this was probably actually the worst that they had seen.<p>

The four girls moved out of the way while Henri bent down and began to tend to the wound. After he cleaned all of the blood up, he pulled out a bottle of disinfectant. Before he could say anything, Mercy spoke up.

"Oh, no…. Not that stuff!" She whimpered, hugging herself, with tears in her eyes. "Can't Penny just make a potion or something?"

"Hey, couldn't you do that?" Isoko asked, turning to Penny.

Penny let out a sigh before responding. "It is truly disheartening to inform you that… I mean, sadly, I'm gonna need some kind of nature magic and water magic to make a healing potion. Unless you would allow me to go out for a couple of hours to gather the necessary components."

"We don't have time for all of that," Crystal said. "Stupid girl, you should be more prepared! If your magic has the capability to heal, you need to always be able to heal!"

Penny glared at Crystal. "Well, maybe if some old hag… I mean, it is most unfortunate for a fine elderly woman… I mean… GAH! Screw you for making me train in a cave!"

"Well, maybe you should have taught yourself a more useful magic, idiot, useless girl!" Crystal snapped back, her eyes turning angry white as veins swelled all over her head.

One vein on Penny's forehead swelled and she stomped one of her feet, gritting her teeth at Crystal.

Before the fighting could worsen, Henri spoke. "Would my magic not count as nature magic? It takes on a lot of properties of nature."

Penny's face turned back to its normal, serene look as she turned to Henri. "I don't know… I could try?"

"And I have water magic," Elizabeth added.

"Alright, let's try," Penny said, her eyebrows narrowing in determination. With that, she instructed Henri and Elizabeth to use their magic and hold out their hands so that she could absorb it, as it was much easier than taking it from their reserves. She absorbed both of their magic at once and swirled it into a mixture in her hands, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Your magic looks pretty awesome," Isoko commented, watching as Penny molded her hands around the two liquids, making them combine. They glowed as they did so, making even more light in the cave.

Once the magic had combined, it made a very pale blue-green liquid. Instead of putting it in a vial, Penny knelt and pushed the liquid towards Mercy's wound and it began to disappear slowly. When it was gone, the wound wasn't completely gone, but it was smaller and the dirt that was in it was gone.

"Ooooh…" Mercy marveled at her magic.

Penny, however, didn't seem quite as impressed. She stepped back and held her chin in between her thumb and index finger, humming lowly under her breath. "It didn't work very well…. I'm not sure why…."

"You need to practice more," Crystal said, folding her arms over her chest.

"I-I'll bandage i-it up for you," Henri said, his face slightly tinted with blush, though it wasn't very visible in odd lighting of the cave, anyway. He then bandaged the wound rather quickly and professionally before beginning to pack up the first aid kit.

"It was pretty smart of you to bring a first-aid kit," Sayomi commented.

Henri smiled sheepishly at the compliment. It was second nature to him to make sure that he was prepared for any injuries that may happen, so he hadn't even thought anything of it.

"Thank you, everyone!" Mercy said, clapping her hands together cheerfully.

While Henri seemed to steam over the compliment, Penny turned to Crystal, her eyes narrowing. "Do you think that we have made progress?" she asked. It was late and tomorrow was their last day of training. She felt as though their teamwork had gotten somewhat better and she definitely felt as though she was pretty familiar with the different magic in Team Crystal, but she wanted to know the old hag's opinion.

Crystal stared at the team in front of her. A very light smile fleeted across her face, as she watched Henri and Sayomi help Mercy up, both of the mages smiling when they realized that Mercy was able to walk with no problem. The elderly mage couldn't deny that the group had become fast friends for the most part and they all seemed excited to learn about the magics of one another. It really was impressive. Not that she would ever say anything like that. "You brats will have to do," she resulted in saying, sticking her nose up to them. "But that doesn't mean you can let up on your training tomorrow!"

With that, the six mages retired to the room that they all shared, leaving Crystal in the large cavern alone, just as they had the night before. Once she was certain that they were all gone, she sat down against the wall and let out a small sigh. "How long has it been since I've been down here? 30 years…?"

* * *

><p>In the room of the cavern, there were twelve small cots with simple, pale blue dressings and one small door against the far wall that led to a washroom. Six cots lined the west wall and six lined the east wall, and all of the cots on the west wall had some sort of small luggage at the end of it. It was fairly obvious whose bed was whose by the looks of the luggage. The first bed had an electric blue backpack at the end of, the second had a rather shiny, large golden handbag at the end of it, the third had a simple black backpack that had all sorts of pins representing different games on it, the fourth had a sapphire blue backpack that had different charms of green, silver and yellow hanging from the many zippers, the fifth had a frilly black and white messenger bag that was stuffed to the brim with various gothic books and the final bed had a large black backpack with a skull pattern on it, that was left open with a few random contents like books and pencils, spilled onto the floor.<p>

Each of the mages took turned changing into their sleepwear. Sayomi changed into an electric blue tanktop, along with simple black pajama bottoms and white bunny slippers, Penny dressed in a silky, white, lacey nightgown, Isoko changed into gray pajama bottoms and a black t-shirt, Elizabeth changed into a white graphic tee that almost covered her black shorts, Mercy changed into a frilly black nightgown that looked slightly overdone with the amount of lace and frills on it, and Henri simply shed everything other than his shirt and boxers.

Once they had settled into their cots, they began talking, with Sayomi leading the conversation.

"How do you guys feel about this mission after training most of yesterday and all of today?" she asked.

"I'm ready!" Mercy said, holding her hands in the air. She was lying on her stomach across the little bed, which was making Penny stare at her with a slight frown.

"I concur, dearest, but you must be careful of how you move in such a lack of clothing," the alchemist said. She then cleared her throat. "I mean, you're showing off your lady goods, hun."

Mercy giggled at Penny's wording on things and grabbed the end of her blanket, rolling herself up in it, with her arms outstretched in front of her. "I'm a burrito!" she announced.

This made Sayomi, Penny and Elizabeth laugh, while Henri seemed a bit spaced out and Isoko was absorbed in her gaming lacrima.

The cots were close enough that Penny could lean over and peer at the screen of the lacrima device. She saw a bunch of squares, some with little figures on them. Isoko seemed to be strategically placing the figures, sometimes making them other figures who were mostly red in color. "What are you doing, exactly?" she asked.

Once the screen flashed with "Enemy Turn", Isoko turned her attention to Penny. "It's really fun. It's a strategy game where I'm saving the kingdom from bad guys and zombie-like creatures through battling and recruiting new units, all of which are characters that have their own unique personalities in combat. And then, I can pair them together and their kids from the future will come back in a later part of the story and…" her voice faded when she realized how much she had talked. She blushed, her mouth turning into a thin squiggly line, and then turned her attention back to her lacrima.

"That actually sounds as if it would be rather entertaining," Penny said with a small smile. She then sat back and started thinking for a moment. "If you guys could meet your child from the future, would you?"

"I think it would be fun to play with them and ask them about all the adorable books in the future," Mercy said, still rolling around in her "burrito" state.

"It-it would be nice insight to the future," Henri agreed.

"Wouldn't you know who you fell in love with, though?" Sayomi asked. "Or, at least at one point were in love with enough…" her voice faded and she blushed at what she almost said, though she bit her tongue.

"I personally feel as though that would be the most intriguing part," Penny said. "I would love to know what man would be brave enough to try to steal my heart," she added, toying with a loose strand of hair that fell beside her face.

"Maybe it would be fun to see what magic they learned and stuff," Elizabeth said. She had pulled a box of pocky from her bag and was slowly eating them. After a moment, she extended the box to offer to her friends, but everyone declined.

"But what if they told you that the future was in ruins or something?" Isoko asked. "That's why they come back in this game," she added. "Would you be alright knowing that you died and left your kid alone?"

"I think… If their father and I had taught them magic, I wouldn't feel bad, necessarily," Elizabeth responded. "I mean, you're supposed to die before you kids, right?"

"What if it was your fault that the future was like that, though?" Henri asked. "What if you were the enemy to your own child?"

The room fell silent after that, at least for a moment. "Then we would fight," Isoko responded after a moment. "If they really thought that I was the cause, then they would know how strong they needed to be to defeat me, since they would know of my magic, right?"

"I could not bear the thought of fighting my child," Penny said, shaking her head. "I would never want to hurt them… Only spoil them."

"I wouldn't mind sparring with them, but I don't know how I would feel about being the enemy," Sayomi admitted. "I think I would accuse them of being misled or something."

"Me, too. Especially if the guild was the enemy or something," Elizabeth saying. "Well, I mean. I can only assume that my child would probably be born into Silver Griffin, unless I fell for a man of another guild or something."

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement to this statement.

"That would be weird," Isoko said, once "Enemy Turn" had flashed on her screen again. "Silver Griffin versus the future of Silver Griffin."

After that, their conversation slowly died down, with all of the mages other than Isoko and Henri falling asleep around the same time, and Henri and Isoko falling asleep some moments after.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>: Hi, guys~ Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. ^.^ The next chapter will have some of Team Crystal's mission in it, probably. I loved writing this chapter. It was lots of fun! :3_

_-Hydra Dusk is still open for OCs for a bit._

_*****PAY ATTENTION TO THE BELOW STUFF IF YOU LIKE MY DRAWING OR WRITING, FOLKS! OR IF YOU JUST LIKE LITTLE GUESSING GAMES!******_

_-Kudos to whoever guesses correctly what game-or even game series Isoko is describing, as I am referencing a real game there. Would a one-shot of your specifications-as long as I know the fandom- work for people who get it right? ;3 I don't know what else I could give, haha. My drawings suck, but you could also choose that. That would be of your choice, to, with up to three people in the drawing. Your choice. I'll message people that get it right and I'll do this again if people show interest. You can PM me your answer, if too shy to review with it. It may take me a while to get prizes out if everyone participates, and I'll be doing it in order of first come, first serve._

_((I've seen a couple of people doing little games like this in their author's note, namely Origm2012-don't hate me, please!-, so I thought it would be fun. I won't do it every chapter, though. Just sometimes.))_

**_Review Responses_**

**_As always, thank you all so much! Lots of love from me! We're almost to 200 reviews! I'm so excited, hehe. :3_**

_La Maitresse' Dame – It's quite possible that Crystal may change a bit. ;3 Who knows? It is quite beneficial to train with a guild master. They may have a bit of an upper-hand in team fights, maybe, but they won't get that much training, at least right now. I haven't decided yet if Team Crystal will remain a thing throughout the fic. :3_

_Puffypuffin3 – No problem~ I expect reviews to be just a bit sporadic and such throughout the holidays and then to slow down a bit when school comes back. I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! I think a lot of people are wondering how Crystal will change with her own team. :P And soon enough, things will be revealed for captured griffins. I really can't say how many chapters as I don't fully have Team Crystal's mission planned out, haha. And those puns. XD And I tried naming chapters at one point, a long time ago, but it was either nonsensical or revealed too much of what would happen in the chapter, so I stopped._

_Baren – Yes. Dem feels are real . ; n ; I'm really happy that I'm good with tragedy. I feel as though I'm broadening my skills a bit, hehe. XD Yes, Team Crystal always. I'm happy it went over well, haha. :D_

_MyDearWatson – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter. Yeah. No matter what is thought of her, there is no denying that Crystal is the more level-headed of the two sisters, and she's better with her emotions as well. I think she balances out Winter, and that was what I was going for, haha. :3_

_FrozenBlast13 – Yeah, I didn't actually realize how much of a fun team Penny and Isoko would make when I made Team Crystal. I mostly put Penny on the team because she has a support magic and I think teams need support mages, haha. Glad you liked the chapter~ c:_

_FanO'theNinja21 – Team Crystal was aimed at making Crystal seem like a good guy, because I felt as though I was making her out to be too much of a bad guy and she's not meant to be an antagonist. Actually, hashtags do appear to show up. I wouldn't have thought that they would, either, haha._

_Barrett M107 – I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I had a blast writing the scene with Vancha. XD_

_Vaerith – I'm really happy that so many people are supportive of Crystal's authority. XD And I hope you don't mind me naming the little puppy. ^^;_

_DarkHyena – I'm glad I'm doing Mercy justice. She's so much fun to write. X3_

_LightAndDarkHeart – I'm really happy to see so many people supporting Team Crystal. :3_

_Origm2012 – I hope you don't mind me taking inspiration for the little game at the end of the chapter. X_x It sounded like so much fun. And I'm really, really happy to hear those things. ^/^ It's really flattering and nice to hear that my story can be pictured so well. I try really hard, but at the time, try not to overload the senses with description. O.o; Thank you so much!_

_Reven228 – Yeah. Training chapters and bonding chapters will happen some times. I don't like writing only serious fights, as I run out of ideas if I do that. X_X I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter._


	14. Chapter 14

**October 14****th****, X791, around 7am**

"Ms. Winter!" Cecil's eyes widened when she saw the elderly guild master hobbling down the stairs, a somber look on her face. Since the news of the griffins' disappearance, she had been upstairs and while Cantrelle stayed with her most of the time, when the tiny mage came downstairs, she always brought news that Winter just wasn't feeling well.

"Good morning, dear," Winter mumbled hoarsely as she made her way over to the bar and sat down, looking around. "Where is Bandera?" she asked.

"Oh, he's training with his team today," Cecil responded. "He asked if I could cover him today. Kimi and Fawn said they'd help if needed, but they aren't here yet."

"Oh…" Winter nodded. Her eyes were dark and red from crying. "Has anything been heard… About anything?"

"No, ma'am," Cecil said, her voice lowering and her eyes dropping to the ground. She wished there was something she could do. Not only because those who were missing were members of her guild, but because she wanted to help Winter.

"I guess I need to send a team or something…" Winter mumbled. She then looked around at the empty guild hall. She then leaned forward, just for safe measures. "Is… Is it wrong for m-me to be scared to send more mages out?" she asked, tears filling her eyes as her voice cracked.

Cecil's brows furrowed and before she knew it, she had tears in her eyes." No, ma'am," she said, partially coughing the words out. She understood. She didn't want to think what would happen if more griffins vanished into the mountains.

Winter quickly swiped her eyes when the doors opened and Crystal walked through them, fully dressed, a small smile on her face.

When the other guild master saw the two members of the guild, though, she quickly stopped smiling, her eyes growing cold again. "Hello," she greeted flatly.

"Where have you been?" Winter asked. After seeing Crystal, she realized that she hadn't even seen her sister since the disappearance of the griffins. It wasn't like her to avoid responsibility or confrontation.

"I trained a team and sent them after your weaklings," Crystal responded, heading for the stairs before she could get bombarded with questions.

However, Winter stood and grabbed her arm before she could make it to the stairs. "You were training mages?"

"Yes," Crystal responded, staring at her sister with annoyance in her eyes.

"You?" Winter asked, disbelief in her eyes.

"You weren't going to do it," Crystal hissed, trying to tug her arm away from Winter.

"Are they alive?" Winter asked, still in awe at her sister's words, not letting go of her sister's arm.

"What kind of question is that, dumb sister?" Crystal snapped, a vein swelling in her forehead. "They are well, and headed into the mountains as we speak."

"You… You haven't trained mages since…" Winter's eyes filled with tears, but it was tears of joy this time. "What m-made you change?" She asked, bringing both of her hands up to her mouth now, not even realizing that she let Crystal go.

Crystal glared at her. "Does it matter?"

"No, no, it doesn't," Winter said, wiping at her eyes. "Who did you send?" She honestly didn't think that Crystal would even know the names of the mages that she never even seemed to care about.

"Henri, Sayomi, Mercy, Penny, Isoko and Elizabeth," Crystal responded. "I was harsh on them, so I know they can do this."

"You know their names, too?" Winter asked, a bright smile on her face. "Oh, I knew you'd come back around…"

"I'm not 'back around'," Crystal hissed, avoiding Winter as she tried to hug her, pressing her fist into the top of her sister's head. "They are my team. I'm just proving to you that your methods are awful. I refuse to train anyone other than those six."

"Still…." Winter stared. "You're training people again. How does it feel to use magic in combat?"

"My back hurts after dealing with those idiots. I'm going to bed," Crystal said, pushing Winter back by the forehead and shuffling up the stairs.

Winter stared for a moment before returning to her seat at the barstool. "Even though we don't get along… Crystal always seems to have my back," she said to Cecil. "It amazes me…"

"It really is sweet," Cecil commented with a small laugh. She then turned her attention to the door, which was opening again.

Fortune walked through the doors and looked around, his eyes landing on Cecil. He then walked over, pulling his jacket closer to him and then pulling a coin from his pocket and flipping it. "'Sup?" he asked with a small grin.

"Hi, how are you, Fortune?" Cecil asked with a smile.

"I'm fine," Fortune answered, sitting at the bar. His eyes were on the mission board, which was still empty.

"The missions will return soon. There is a team that is going after the missing griffins now," Winter said, patting his back.

"Really?" Fortune asked. For a second, his face lit up, but after a moment, he put back on his cool look.

The door to the guild opened again and Winter turned around, surprised at how many early-risers she seemed to have this morning.

Kimi and Fawn walked in, chatting about various recipes, both with smiles on their faces. They stopped when they noticed that Cecil, Fortune and Winter were in the guild.

"Good morning," Fawn said, bowing her head slightly. When she saw the lines under both Fortune's eyes and Winter's eyes, she walked over hurriedly. "Are you two okay?" she asked, her brows furrowing in worry.

"I'm fine, dear," Winter said, patting her hand. "Such a pleasant young lady, to be friends with such hoodlums," she commented, running her hands through Fawn's hair.

"I'm good," Fortune said, waving a hand of dismissal. However, he began to fiddle with his hair and such, wondering if he really looked that bad. He hadn't been able to sleep well knowing that his cousin was missing. How ironic and terrible it would be if he had put years into trying to make himself into someone that Fame wouldn't consider weak only to have him die. He hated the thoughts and he didn't know the guild well enough to feel assured that they would be able to save him.

Fawn laughed softly at Winter. "Viera is nice if you get to know her," she assured the elderly guild leader, who was always commenting on Fawn's team, namely Viera.

"Everyone is nice sometimes!" Kimi agreed, now behind the bar with Cecil.

Fawn walked over and joined the two girls. "Erm… Ephraim will be here soon, too," she said. "Viera has had us training non-stop because she thinks there's going to be something big going down and wants us to impress the guild leaders so that we can get more missions. Ephraim said he wasn't going to train alone with her…" She ended her sentence with a nervous laugh. Ephraim had been pretty bitter about the thought of having Viera use him as a punching bag without her around to control them. She wondered how training used to be before she came along for Ephraim not to want to revert back to that.

"That's fine," Cecil said with a tiny giggle of her own. "I'm sure he'll enjoy being our taste-tester."

"You can be, too, if you want!" Kimi offered to Fortune. "If you like sweets."

Fortune was already idly flipping a coin and he caught it and shook his head, wrinkling his nose. "I don't like sweets," he admitted. "I'll probably find someone to spar with, unless one of you want to."

"I don't fight…" Cecil declined in a soft voice, her eyes falling to the ground.

"I'm okay… I'm really sore," Fawn admitted. Upon closer look, one could see the bruises and scrapes that dotted her skin from training with someone as rough as Viera.

"I don't fight, either, unless I gotta~" Kimi responded, making a stream of pink fire surround her as she twirled, the fire making the area smell like a bakery.

Fortune wrinkled his nose. "Damn… Are you three just like, made of sugar or something?" he asked, stepping back. He really wasn't one for sweets. No real reason; they just smelled and tasted bad.

This made all of the girls giggle and Winter smile. "But you would make an adorable couple with one of them, dearest Fortune," she commented, half-jokingly.

Fortune blushed, just ever-so-slightly. "I prefer my women to not dissolve in water," he eventually answered lamely.

This made Winter laugh.

"Ms. Winter, do you just spend time pairing us or something?" Cecil asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. She hadn't been a member of the guild for that long, but yet she always heard Winter talking about how different mages would make good couples or cute children or something.

"Oh, only sometimes," Winter said with a laugh and a wink. "An old mage like me doesn't have much to do…"

This made the other four people in the room exchange slightly awkward glances while they blushed.

"Who do you pair me with, Ms. Winter?" Kimi asked, breaking the awkward silence, leaning on the bar with a bright smile on her face.

"Not with that hoodlum that you're always all over," Winter mumbled. "You need a nicer boy like Tad, Kai or Dariel. Or maybe Cole or Varis."

"Awww… I don't like nice guys," Kimi said, frowning. "And Kai's a player. How can you consider him nice?"

"He has a nice heart like his friends," Winter responded.

"What about me, Ms. Winter?" Cecil asked.

"I think Cole or Tad would suit you nicely," Winter said. "I have confidence that you won't be like your dear friends and fall for hoodlums."

Cecil laughed, but she stopped when she realized something. "Wait, _friends_?" she turned back to Fawn, who looked curious, though she was blushing. "You know who Fawn likes?" she asked.

"Oh… I feel as though I know who she will fall for. Or at least one of two people," Winter said in confident voice. "And I don't approve. Don't be like your friends, dearest Cecil."

Fawn's face turned red and she gritted her teeth. If it was anyone other than Winter accusing her of liking her teammates, she would have said something, but she had a lot of respect for Winter, partially for putting up with so many people who had bad attitudes. So, she bit her tongue.

"Okay, I'll try not to," Cecil said in a joking voice, still laughing.

The doors to the guild opened and Ephraim walked in, looking around for Viera and breathing a sigh of relief when he didn't see her. "It is sooo disheartening that are third teammate isn't here today," he said to Fawn as he approached the bar.

"Oh, thank god, someone to save me from girl talk," Fortune said, grabbing Ephraim's hands and looking down at him. "Please tell me you are up for a spar or something…?"

"Erm, who let this bundle of crazy into the guild?" Ephraim asked, pretty certain that he hadn't met Fortune before. He took his hands back and brushed them on his pants.

"Oh," Fortune's mouth turned into a straight line as his face turned red. "S-sorry. I'm Fortune," he introduced himself with a grin, hoping that he could charm Ephraim into wanting to battle with him.

Ephraim arched a brow at him. "What a perfectly normal name… Unfortunately, I have no interest in sparring with anyone," he said, walking past him and sitting at the bar.

Dark lines fell down Fortune's face and for a moment, he emitted a cloudy aura, until the door opened and for a second, he looked like a puppy waiting for its master; ears and a tail were practically visible for a moment.

Cole and Quin walked in, and before Cole could even get out a greeting, Fortune tackle hugged him, causing Quin to side step, a bored expression still on his face, though there were lines crawling down his face.

"H-hi," Cole stammered, coughing due to the death-grip that Fortune had on him.

"Someone to save me…" Fortune practically cried, snuggling up to Cole.

"Save you…?" Cole was confused. He had a sweat-drop on his forehead and though he was patting Fortune's back, he had a nervous grin on his face. When he noticed all of the mages watching in sympathy, he mouthed, "What's going on?" receiving a snarky grunt from Ephraim and sympathetic smiles from the three girls behind the bar.

"Will you spar with me?" Fortune asked, now looking like a dog that wanted to go for a walk, practically turning circles in front of Cole. All he was missing was a leash.

"Ummm… No thank you," Cole responded. He didn't even notice the way the chance mage seemed to shatter, his practical dog traits practically deflating into darkness.

"I will," Quin said, tucking his arms behind his head.

This brought a deflated Fortune back to life and he jumped up. "Oh, thank you!"

"Don't hug me," Quin said, sidestepping so that Fortune was sent crashing into one of the tables. "Dumbass…." The air mage mumbled under his breath.

Fortune recovered fast, a golden circle appearing over him as he called out, "Casino's Chance: Evens or Odds!" Two giant, golden dice appeared in front of them as if they had been tossed. When they landed, they vanished and flashed the number "5". "…The odds are in your favor…." Fortune growled as the five burst and Quin began to glow yellow while Fortune was hit and blasted a few feet back.

The chance mage recovered quickly and instantly put distance in between himself and Quin, landing on the stairwell.

"You're not stopping them?" Cecil asked, surprised that Winter was just watching the fight.

"Just wait…" Winter said, sort of glaring at her as if she had talked during a good movie.

"What the hell?" Quin could feel his magic stirring up as if he had gotten more magic or something. After a moment, he realized that Fortune must have amped his strength. "Air Make: Shuriken!" he then called, a handful of shuriken made of bright green hair forming above her extended palm. With a flick of his wrist, the shuriken were thrown at Fortune. Quin smirked when he saw that they traveled faster than normal. Fortune's magic really was amplifying.

Fortune jumped, flipping through the air and landing in front of Quin. Instantly, he threw a fist, that collided with a small wall of green air, which slashed at his skin. He grimaced and then jumped back. "Guess the card, Quin," he said, grabbing an ethereal deck of cards.

"What?" Quin stared at him. Instead, he said, "Air Make: Bullets," he shot a few air bullets from his finger, frowning when a golden barrier flashed around Fortune.

"You can't attack me or be attacked until you guess a card," Fortune stated. "We're at an impasse."

"Fine, It's a Jack of Spades," Quin said, pulling some card off of the top of his head.

"Ah, so sorry, it's 10 of diamonds," Fortune said, revealing the card and then letting it enlarge.

Quin didn't even have time to react before ten beams of light were shot at him. He managed to back up and dodge the first set, but this got him hit by three beams, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Casino's Chance: Cash Out!" Fortune called, throwing a few jewel, just amp himself up just a little bit and then pouncing on Quin, attempting to punch him in the face.

Quin caught his fist, and then called "Air Make: Tornado!" making a small cyclone in his free hand and throwing it at Fortune's face.

Fortune blocked with his free arm, ignoring as his jacket was shredded and the outside of his wrist was cut open. He grabbed Quin's collar and pulled him to his feet, throwing him like a ragdoll as his body glowed.

Quin went flying, skidding over a table and then landing on the backs of his shoulders with a grunt. "Damn," he wheezed, rolling back onto his heels. "Air Make: Sparrows!" he called, causing a bright green magic circle to appear in front of him, and a flock of little green air sparrows to flutter towards Fortune.

"Ahg!" Fortune snapped, when the sparrows began to dart around him, pecking at him with quick moving winds that made up their beaks. He punched at them, but when he actually hit them, it cut open his hands, making him wince. He eventually resulted in pulling a hand full of dice out of a magic circle and scattering them around them. "Casino's Chance: Loaded Dice!" he called. With that, all of the dice blew up, ridding the area of birds and he landed, adjusting his coat.

"Man… I hate that spell," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, well, it can't be helped."

Quin took Fortune's little moment of monologue as an opening. "Air Make: Bolas!" he called, grabbing a bolas from a bright green circle and throwing it at Fortune.

"Dammit!" Fortune snapped, hopping into the air. However, his eyes widened when the bolas tracked him, catching his leg and then spiraling around the rest of his body, the spheres on the end whipping together. He let out a cough as he hit the ground with a loud THUD! He began squirming when the sharp winds cut into his clothes and skin.

"Tch. Gotcha," Quin said, standing up and stretching one arm over his head with a small yawn. His magic disappeared and he plopped back. "That's enough for today…" he mumbled with another yawn.

"You hoodlums messed up my guild hall!" Winter stood, before Fortune could sit down, her eyes fiery. Really, only a few chairs were amiss and the floor was scuffed and charred where Fortune had thrown his dice. It wasn't nearly as bad when some of the actual hoodlums were in and looking to fight.

"Ah!" Fortune's face paled when he looked around and saw the mark. "Erm, I'm sorry!" he apologized, quickly clapping his hands together. "I'll clean it up!"

"No, dearie. It's too late for that. You must accept… Punishment…!" Winter said, walking over to him, one of her eyes glowing bright blue, her face shaded apart from the glowing eye and a huge, devious grin.

Fortune's eyes turned to white circles and he stared with a look of fear on his face. Quin just arched a brow.

"Punishment is fun~" Kimi said, clapping.

"A-as long as you're not part of it," Fawn stammered.

Cecil nodded in agreement.

"Oh, what does are wonderful guild master have in-store this time?" Ephraim mused, sipping a glass of juice that he had acquired during the fight.

"Does she do this often?" Cole asked. He was now sitting beside Ephraim as the bar.

"Eh, it varies on how many missions the guild has," Cecil responded. When there were lots of missions, most of the mages stayed away, but when they lacked missions, there were more guild fights, which meant more punishment. It was always amusing for her.

"Now… Your punishment is simple," Winter said, clapping her hands together, the shadows vanishing and a bright, sunny smile now on her face.

Fortune breathed a sigh of relief, until he heard his next words, to which he stiffened and paled.

"I want you two hoodlums to kiss," Winter announced.

"Oooohhh," Kimi and Cecil heckled girlishly, both giggling.

Fawn seemed embarrassed for them.

Ephraim nearly choked on his juice as he burst into snickering, covering his mouth.

Cole only stared in what was a mix of awe at Winter's cruelty, and sympathy for his friends.

"Nope," Quin replied. He had stiffened for a moment, but was now relaxed. There was no way he was doing that.

"Wh-what?" Fortune stared, his face pink. He hadn't even had his first kiss. Not that a cool guy like him would ever reveal that, but he had just been too focused on training during his adolescence to really ever date. "Please, please don't make me…." He groaned.

"Then get someone to take the punishment for you, phone a friend," Winter said, placing her hands on her hips. She had originally been daydreaming with sparkly eyes, obviously fantasizing. She also figured that no one would take the fall for either of them.

There was awkward silence in the guildhall.

"I'll do it~" Kimi spoke up, breaking the silence, dancing from behind the counter. She could see that while Quin didn't really seem to care, Fortune was legitimately torn by the punishment. It was for the sake of love, she would save someone. It would be just like acting.

"Wait, what?" Quin stared up at her, blushing as the pink mage made her way over to him with a bright smile on her face.

She then gave him a quick peck on the lips and then jumped back. "Ta-da!" she cheered, fire surrounding her as she danced. "You're very welcome, mister~" she whispered to Fortune as she passed, returning to the girls behind the counter.

"You really are quite outgoing," Cecil commented, laughing lightly.

"I think Fortune would have died a little inside from that, and that's not nice," Kimi whispered, twirling her staff like a baton and catching it.

Quin's blush faded after a moment and he glared at nothing. "You made us join a crazy guild, Cole," he commented.

Cole laughed at this. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized in a lighthearted tone.

"Thank you…" Fortune finally managed to get the words out. Had she read him that easy? Was he still that easy to read?

* * *

><p>Not long after, Cole proposed going to grab lunch or something somewhere, and while Quin and Fortune went with him, no one else did. Winter went outside to play with Cantrelle, and it left Cecil, Kimi, Fawn and Ephraim in the kitchen, though Ephraim was just there for moral support, as he wanted no part of their sugar coma concoctions.<p>

"You really are bold, aren't you, Kimi?" Fawn asked. She didn't mean it to be an offensive statement. She just remembered times when she was so shy she couldn't even speak without sputtering. She couldn't imagine Cecil or Kimi ever being like that and she was a bit… Admiring.

"You gotta be when you're a stage mage!" Kimi said, twirling around and passing Cecil a huge sack of sugar, which she then poured into easier to manage containers. "It was the way I was raised."

"What about you, Cecil?" Fawn asked. "You're really outgoing, too."

"Hmm…." Cecil tilted her head, thinking of the answer to the question at hand. "I think I'm just really social. I like making friends!"

"I don't know if kissing people you barely know just constitutes to being outgoing," Ephraim commented.

"Fortune was really scared," Kimi said. "First kisses are really, really important to people who aren't used to the stage life. It's only natural of me to help people like that~"

"I guess that could be right," Ephraim commented with a shrug, his voice flat.

"Taste this," Fawn said, attempting to hand him a spoon that had purple batter on the end of it.

"What is that?" Ephraim questioned, leaning back so that the batter didn't drip on him. "It looks positively-"

Fawn glared at him and shoved the spoon into his mouth, ignoring his muffled, choked protest. After a moment, she took the spoon back and threw it into the nearest sink.

Ephraim covered his mouth and coughed, wiping at his face. "Dearest Fawn… You want me to believe that you have a death-wish for me, I am positively certain of it. I have told you countless times how your cooking is much too sugary, but you continue to funnel-"

"Did it taste okay?" Fawn asked sternly, interrupting him.

"Yes," he answered.

This made Kimi and Cecil giggle.

~!~!~!

Team Crystal made it to the mountains with good timing, Penny with the map in her hands, Sayomi and Elizabeth with notes from Crystal in their hands, and Isoko with her gaming lacrima. Crystal had trained them hard on the previous day, actually getting involved in the fights. Her ice magic had been powerful, to say the least. She had even went so far as to trap all of them in a dome and tell them that they had to find a way to break through it on their own. She had actually smiled, for more than just a split second, too, when they had broken free in less than ten minutes.

When they had left, Crystal had told them that she had confidence in them, even though her voice still remained stern, they were all sure they could see a faint sign of the ice in her eyes breaking. Maybe she was warming up to them just a bit.

"So… We're going to be investigating an old cave that's near the start of this trail," Sayomi said. "Or, at least it looks that way."

"Oooh, cave exploring," Mercy said, clapping her hands together in excitement. "Sounds like so much fun!"

"Not to offend you, dearest, but doesn't everything sound absolutely thrilling to you?" Penny asked, looking down at Mercy with a small smile. Over three days, she had lectured her so much about being more lady-like that she was starting to see the mage as a little sister. None of the other females were really that girly at all, but they knew how to hold themselves, even though she felt like she wanted to grab Isoko and strangle her for bad posture outside of battle. Slouching over that lacrima couldn't be healthy. Oh, well. She hated herself for wishing that there were more ladylike mages in her guild, when that lifestyle was something that she was running from.

"Lots of things are fun," Mercy said, her eyes sparkling. "Right, Henri?" she asked, clinging to his shoulder and looking up at him.

"Ummm… Yeah," he answered in a small, shaky tone.

"There's no reason to be so nervous around us, Henri," Sayomi said, looking over to the boy. While they had become fast friends in the dire moment, Henri still acted really nervous and stiff around them. "We're probably gonna be a team for a while and you're part of the team!"

Henri smiled bashfully and nodded. "S-sorry," he mumbled.

"Is that the entrance of the cave?" Elizabeth asked after looking back to Henri with just a bit of sympathy, though it was barely visible through her resting cold expression.

"Probably," Sayomi said, scanning over her notes and then putting them away. "We should get prepared for battle.

Penny and Elizabeth nodded in agreement and put the papers that they were carrying away.

Isoko looked around and after she saw that everyone else was putting things away, she did the same. She was already running through her head the possibilities of what they could find in the cave and which of her three armors would be best for the situation.

The mouth of the cave was extremely narrow, and if any of them had been six feet tall or more, they would have had to crouch to get through it. They fell in line with Sayomi leading, having used her magic to make a small lantern to light the dark path ahead.

"We're adventurers," Mercy cheered. And with that, her boot caught on a rock and she fell forward, a loud _RIIIIPPPP_ sounding through the cave.

"Uhhhhh…." Henri, who was behind her and at the back of their line, pressed his steaming face to the wall of the cavern.

Penny, who had been in front of Mercy, turned and her eyes widened.

Mercy's skirt had caught on something and it was now completely shredded, her underwear very noticeable.

"Oh, for the sake of everything good," Penny mumbled under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes. When she opened them, she saw Mercy's teary eyes staring up at her and she frowned. "My apologies, dearest," she quickly said.

Mercy hopped up and pulled out one of her keys. "Blair can help me!" she announced. With that, she pulled out a black key with a witch's hat on top of it and twisted it into the air "Open Gate of the Witch, Blair!"

In a puff of shadows, a taller woman with pale skin, bright purple eyes and hair, a simple black tube dress, a witch's hat that was pressed to the roof of the cave, black flats and blue and purple stockings appeared. She instantly noticed the state of Mercy's attire. "Oh, Mercy, let me fix you up!" she said, clapping her hands together and smiling brightly. Within a puff of smoke, Mercy was redressed.

She was now wearing a black sleeveless dress that had a purple spider web print. The top portion fit like a corset, but the bottom flared with purple, spider-web like lace coming out from the bottom. There was a huge purple ribbon with a skull in the center over her bosom, and she had detached sleeves that were black with spiky ends. They looked like they had spiders crawling all over them. She also had on black and white spider-web print stockings and the same shoes on. There was a purple spider hair pin in one side of her hair.

"All better!" Blair cheered. "Doesn't she absolutely adorable?" she asked Penny, who seemed to be a bit in awe at how fast she had changed.

"Well, I can definitely agree that the look suits her," Penny said with a nod. "Mercy is definitely the only woman I know who can pull off such gaudily creepy outfits and still be fascinatingly cute at the same time." While black suited the other girls she was with, she really couldn't imagine them wearing extremely noticeable clothing, and as for herself, black was definitely not her color.

"Is that all you need, dear?" Blair asked.

"Yep! Thank you, Blair!" Mercy said, hugging the spirit as she disappeared.

"Doesn't someone else in our guild have a key to a witch?" Sayomi asked, looking around. After a moment, she realized that everyone she was with apart from Henri was new, so her eyes landed on Henri.

"Sh-Shiloh's are d-different. Th-they look different and h-her magic circle i-is different," Henri responded.

"There's another keyholder in Silver Griffin?" Mercy asked.

"Yeah, we're rescuing her," Sayomi said.

"I can't wait to meet her!" Mercy cheered.

~!~!~

They continued down the narrow path until they eventually came to a wall. There had been no forks in the cave, so the fact that they came to nothing more than a wall threw them off.

"What now?" Sayomi asked, turning around, holding up the light so that she could see the faces of her teammates.

Henri and Isoko shrugged.

"Do you think there is something beyond the wall?" Elizabeth asked, placing a hand on the wall. She wondered if she could use her magic to break it. Then again, she wasn't very good at the earth part of her magic. In fact, she could barely use it.

"One can only assume that in a world of infinite-" Penny cleared her throat. "I mean, I think it's a possibility."

"We should try!" Mercy said.

"Alright," Sayomi said. With that, she used her Arc of Embodiment, to turn part of the wall into a sledgehammer, which she then grabbed. "Stand back!" she called to her teammates, who all backpedaled until they were a couple of feet back. Sayomi took a few steps back and then used all of the strength in her arms to swing the hammer.

Sure enough, the wall crumbled into a bunch of rubble and Sayomi let the hammer crumble into rocks. She picked up the lantern and leaned over the pile of rocks, trying to light the path beyond them. However, all she could see was that the path was no longer narrow. Everything else was still dark.

"Should we continue?" she asked, turning back to her teammates, who were huddled behind her.

"I do not see why not," Penny said, placing her hands on her hips.

With that, they all climbed over the rubble and after taking a few steps forward, they found themselves in a giant cavern. Within a few seconds, the cavern was filled with the sound of something breathing that made them freeze.

The six exchanged glances, standing completely still. After a moment, Penny mouthed "What do we do…?" but everyone just shook their heads.

However, the light from the lantern seem to be enough to make whatever was in the cavern notice them, if the breaking of the wall hadn't. There was a low grumble and then the sounds of footsteps that made the cavern shake, dust and pebbles falling from the ceiling. After a few of the footsteps sounded through the enclosure, the source of them could be seen, and everyone but Mercy stood back.

It was a Vulcan, or at least, used to be a Vulcan. It had deep back fur and a large silver horn on top of its head. Instead of normal eyes, it had many small red eyes, sort of like an insect, and it had two large fangs jutting out from under its upper lip. It's body seemed to be covered in webs and it's lower body resembled the abdomen of a black spider, though all eight of its legs were there, holding up its huge upper body. The sound of the rumbling wasn't actually footsteps, but instead the Vulcan's giant fists slamming into the ground with every few steps that its eight legs took. Across its chest, 301 was tattooed in giant black letters.

"It's one of those numbered beings," Elizabeth said, recalling in the notes that Crystal mentioned something about the beings in the mountains. The group that had returned from the mountains had encountered two of them.

The Vulcan finally noticed them and it let out a fierce bellow and then punched the ground, causing sticky spider webs to travel from its fist towards the griffin.

"Move!" Sayomi called. She instantly made her wings and flew up into the air, still holding the lantern. She could see now that the cavern was quite large, and there seemed to be spider egg sacks and webs everywhere. The sight itself was disturbing, but it was the thought of the eggs hatching the really sent chills down her spine.

Elizabeth used wind magic to boost herself out of the way of the webs, grimacing as she saw the eggs in the corner.

Henri jumped out of the way. "Summoning Magic: Devour Slime!" he called out, a white and pale green magic circle appearing under the creature, causing the sticky slime to appear around its lower body.

Mercy hopped into the air and landed beside Henri, though she landed on her stomach instead of her feet. She hopped up and grinned at him to assure him that she was okay.

Penny hopped and as she traveled through the air, she pulled out a vial that had glowing white magic in it. She glared and threw it at the monster. Like a flash grenade, it exploded and blinded the monster, making it roar in protest and anger. "Hmph!" she smirked, landing beside Isoko, who had rolled away, in a crouched position.

"Requip of the Gamer: Archer!" Isoko called. After pale blue light flashed around her, she was wearing a dark green shirt with brown sleeves, tailored brown pants, leather moccasins and a brown archer's hat with a white feather in it. She had a wooden longbow in her hand, and a quiver with many arrows on her back. She grabbed one of the arrows and after taking aim, she shot a fiery at the Vulcan's face.

The arrow hit and lodged itself in between its eyes, catching the bit of fur on its face on fire. It growled in pain and swiped at the arrow, breaking it in the process and putting out the flames.

"We should move again," Isoko said as the Vulcan's eyes landed on her and Penny. With that, she leapt into the air and landed a few feet away, near the Vulcan's side. She would have been able to see Henri and Mercy through the creature's legs, if not for the slime that it was stuck in.

Penny sprinted away, letting a small yelp as she barely managed to dodge the fist of the Vulcan. She found herself in the corner with Elizabeth, just a foot away from a sack of eggs.

In just a few minutes, the battlefield was set and restricted. Isoko was on the left side of the Vulcan while Henri and Mercy were on the right. Elizabeth and Penny were in the corner across from the entrance and Sayomi was in the air still. The entire entrance was covered in webs, so that area of the battlefield was to be avoided. The Vulcan was still in the slime, but the slime was starting to dissipate as it struggled.

"Open the Gate of the Creeper, Jeepers!" Mercy called after pulling out Jeepers' key.

Jeepers appeared as shadows dispersed, though most of his body apart from his trenchcoat and hat was still masked. "You need me, Mistress?" he asked, his voice deep and raspy.

"We gotta fight!" Mercy said, pointing to the Vulcan just as it broke free of Henri's slime began to swat the air, aiming for Sayomi.

Sayomi clipped the lantern to her belt and conjured up her scythe, at the same time making her arms into shields. She could feel herself becoming overexerted very fast, but she was confident that her team would help her. She blocked the Vulcan's hand with her arm and swung her scythe, slicing at his arm.

Elizabeth hopping to the air and shouted, "Elemental Magic: Wind Cutter!" slicing through the Vulcan's arms as well.

This was enough to sever the Vulcan's arm, but before Sayomi and Elizabeth could be proud of their accomplishments, the arm landed in front of Penny and Elizabeth and blew up, sending the girls flying into the wall with loud screams of surprise.

"Penny! Elizabeth!" Sayomi cried. She didn't have time to go check on them as the Vulcan swatted at her with his other arm. She just barely managed to turn around in time to catch the arm with the flat end of her scythe, her entire body shaking as she tried to guard.

The Vulcan only withdrew its hand when a lightning charged arrow burrowed into its wrist from the left and a flurry of glowing green arrows burrowed into his arm from the right. He bellowed in pain and shook his arm, growling as his entire body was zapped.

Isoko readied another lightning arrow and shot it at his face, smirking to herself when it landed and electrocuted the monster's face.

The centaur warrior that Henri had summoned was glaring and when he called out "Enchanting Magic: War Paint!" the warrior began to glow red and let out a battle cry before turning his bow into a sword and charging forward, severing one of the Vulcan's legs with one powerful swing.

Jeepers hovered near the enemies three remaining legs and began to pummel them, effectively making the creature's right side fall to the ground, rumbling the earth in the process.

"Sayomi!" Isoko called. She was about to tell her to check on Elizabeth and Penny, but Sayomi was already on the move.

The smoke was clearing away and while the girls were on the ground, they were also trying to fight off dozens of palm-sized spiders.

Sayomi landed next to them, dispersing her wings. She changed her scythe into a small mallet and began to smash the spiders. "Are you two okay?" she asked.

"I am certain that we have been better," Penny said, stomping furiously at the spiders. "Take Elizabeth and get back!" she eventually commanded. She had two small vials in her hands, one of which she had made during the fight when she had the chance.

"Got it!" Sayomi said. She then grabbed Elizabeth, who had been punching the spiders with watery fists. She picked the woman up, making her throw her arm over her shoulder. She let her mallet turn to pebbles and dust and then ran towards Henri and Mercy.

When she was certain they were far enough away, Penny drank the first portion and then began to crawl up the wall with her hands and feet. When she was high on the wall, she dropped the other potion, which exploded into fire, burning the arachnids. Penny crawled the rest of the way up the wall and then called out. "Isoko, catch!"

Isoko looked up and caught the small vial as it fell into her hands. "Thanks!" she called. She could see the "A" on it, which meant it was for an ally. She popped the cork and drank it. Her body burned for a few moments before she felt her magic reserves increase. "Requip of the Gamer: Monk!" she called, changing her outfit. Normally, it was hard for her to do more than one requip in a battle, but she and Penny had a lot of synergy.

The requip mage then charged forward and began to punch at the spiders four legs, feeling them cracking under the pressure of her fists.

Penny leapt from the ceiling and landed next to Isoko, running her fingers through her hair. She looked at her belt, realizing that she had used a lot of potions and didn't have time to get more at that moment. With a sigh, she reached down and pulled out her only weapon, one lone dagger that was simple, with an iron blade and leather hilt. She wasn't one for close range combat, but she began to cut at one of the legs of the monster.

Despite the fact that she was weak and one of her legs were badly injured, Elizabeth called out, "Elemental Magic: Wind Cutter!" forcing her palms forward to severe one of the Vulcan's left legs.

That was enough to make the creature fall to the ground, its legs disabled. It was amazing that none of its legs exploded like its arm had, but it was a blessing that the griffins weren't going to question.

The monster roared loud enough to make the cavern shake tremendously, making Elizabeth almost fall to the ground, if it weren't for the fact that Sayomi tucked herself under one of her arms, and Henri under the other. Mercy leaned against her chest.

Isoko grabbed Penny, and in an instant, they were with their team and the griffins huddled together until the roaring stopped, supporting each other with all of their might.

When the creature stopped roaring, he attempting to pull himself back up to stand, but his legs were done for. This caused him to roar again and upon looking around and realizing that he couldn't see due to Isoko's attack on his face, he began punching blindly, causing cracks in the earth.

"This could be bad…" Sayomi commented. There wasn't anything she could do. She had exhausted her magic.

They resulted in back-stepping to at least distance themselves from the creature.

"Do you want me to try to fight it, Mistress?" Jeepers asked, standing in front of the griffins, his shadows concealing them. Not that it would really matter.

"Will it help?" Mercy asked.

Before Jeepers could answer, the creature stopped roaring and its body began to glow.

"Do you think it's gonna explode?" Sayomi asked, recalling in Crystal's notes that one of the other numbered enemies had exploded on the other team.

"Looks like it," Elizabeth stated.

Penny held her hands up and as the enemy irradiated magic, she began to absorb as best as she could. "If my hypothesis is correct, this should at least weaken the explosion, so that we may live to see another day…" she said. Luckily, she had only made one potion today, so she had a lot of magic left. While her body was weak, her mana was not.

Sure enough, the Vulcan exploded and the griffins held onto each other as they flew back into the wall and began to fall into darkness, their screams echoing off of the wall.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hi, guys~ Sorry for the cliffhanger thing. This was the best place to cut it. I'm sure of it. I had lots of fun writing the chapter and sorry it's really late. To be perfectly honest, I got in a slump and lost like, all confidence in myself, but I'm back now and a lot better. Lots of little notes for this chapter, sorry._

_-**ANOTHER POSSIBLY ANNOYING OPINION QUESTION! HOW DO YOU GUYS FEEL ABOUT FLASHBACKS?**_

_Okay, to explain this and clear up some things that this will bring up. I don't mean, copy-pasting things that have already happened in story. I mean, things to explain some of the characters' histories. I have a couple of ideas for flash-back segments. I was going to do one for Rylen when he entered Allium, but I chose not to do that because I would be describing things like someone's eye being ripped out and their arm being burned off, and that's not very nice. I mean, they would be their own segment and you could technically skip them, but I don't feel as though I should do many, if any of them, if everyone is against flashbacks._

_-There is a poll on my profile that asks whether or not you guys wanna see the S-class exams or Character Development arc after this one. I don't mind either way. The only things that may change is that the characters will be stronger for the S-class exams and such if we wait longer for the S-class exams, but it really won't affect the flow of the story very much apart from that._

_-Still accepting Dusk Hydra OCs._

_-The answer to the last game was Fire Emblem: Awakening, and if you got it right, attempted to answer and didn't hear from me, message me!_

_-My collab with my fiancé is up on my collab profile. It's a dark assassin/thief guild called Charon Cross and we're accepting OCs, still._

_-I've posted a couple of more visuals for Silver Griffin and I also posted a list of references for what my characters' voices sound like, and if you want to give me reference material for what your character's voice sounds like, message me with what to google or something. :3_

_-We've reached 100k words! Yay! We're possibly a fifth of the way through the story or something like that. :D _

_-For those of you who saw the chapter disappear: I didn't do it. It was a glitch in the matrix._

_-HAPPY NEW YEARS FOLKS! I feel bad for not doing any sort of holiday specials, but I didn't have any ideas and I am going to try my absolute hardest to get a special for Valentine's Day out. And when Summer gets here, if I haven't already, I will do an obligatory beach chapter with lots of comedy and ecchiness._

**_Review Responses:_**

**_As always, thank you guys so much! It means the world to me to see my work getting so many reviews and I hope you guys are really enjoying the story! Lots of love from me! 3_**

_-Icera – Yes, he is! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. :3_

_-MyDearWatson – Sometimes my chapters will be really fluffy! XD Romance is one the genres for this. :P I love writing fluff. I'm really hoping a lot of the ships will be loved when they become more obvious, haha. :D And I hope seeing part of their mission didn't disappoint. ^^_

_-La Maitresse' Dame – Coyote and Vancha have the same creator. :P His characters are kinda distinguishable, not that that's a bad thing, by any means. And I'm terrible at naming things, haha. It has it's reasons and it's like the candy, or something, haha. And I'm surprised you haven't had strawberry lemonade. It's fairly common around here. Then again, that could be my love for all things citrus that makes me feel as though it's common. XD I adore just about any lemonade drink. ^^ All of the guild members aren't completely aware. Most of them would know by now, as the missions have been taken down to assure they don't leave._

_-puffypuffin3 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! And I'm really surprised at how torn up people are over Lucie. :U Anyway, Mercy is adorable. I have fun writing cute characters. And I tried to show a little bit of Fawn's motherly side in this chapter, as I realized I haven't shown that very much. ^^; I thought about making Ephraim think about the fact that he hadn't had his first kiss, but I didn't know if that would be unrealistic, haha. X_X_

_-FrozenBlast13 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter and I hope the later part of this chapter didn't disappoint. :3_

_-LightAndDarkHeart – I think it's been enough time for me to start introducing some more romance into the story, hehe. :D_

_-Baren – Gwen x Vancha-I don't know how that would splice, haha-is definitely a fun ship. I didn't mean for the Bandera and Nekane moment to be so sad. It was supposed to be… Touching, maybe? Anyway, I hope nearly making people tear up means that my writing is sufficient, hehe._

_-Origm2012 – I really didn't mean for it to be so hard. Sorry. :I Hehe. I'm glad my comedy suffices. It's one of my weaker points. ^^; And thank you~ :3_

_-Vaerith – Maybe… c: I'm happy you didn't mind me naming her. ^^; Thank you! I'm really surprised that it made people tear up. ^^;_

_-Reven228 – I'm really happy you liked the chapter~ And yeah, sometimes, ships shall sail, hehehe. XD And I've never played any of the Metal Gear games, so I wouldn't know, sorry. ^^;_

_-Barrett M107 – Nowi wins! :P Crystal is always so serious, yo. And I'm really happy that I got Vancha right. I think he's a really popular character in the story. :P He's lots of fun to write. And with Gwen's illness, I probably will expand on it, but honestly, it will probably be a made-up disease, as I don't think anything fits my criteria for what she has. ^^; I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! c:_


	15. Chapter 15

**October 14****th****, X791, Time Unknown**

The sounds of crumbling rocks could be heard, and the members of Team Crystal stopped screaming when they all landed on the pile of rocks, all groaning in pain. There was a moment of silence as all of the griffins tried to regain their composure. Sayomi used what tiny bit of magic she had left to make another lantern and set it beside her.

With the light, they could see that they were in a pretty wide passageway of another cave, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. It was dusty, dark, and dry.

"Mercy…. Dearest… It seems that you dropped a key…" Penny spoke after placing her a hand on the rock beside her to push herself up. She felt the cold metal beside her and looked down. In the dim light, she could see that it was a black key with a spider-web pattern for a handle.

Mercy rolled over and grabbed her key ring, seeing that there were five black keys and one silver key on it. "I didn't," she partially whined, hurt by being accused of losing her friends.

"Is that so?" Penny asked, rolling the key around in her hand. "I am certain that this is a key similar to yours," she insisted. She then stood, realizing that her dress was ripped up and had a few blood stains on it. She was also missing her gloves now. However, she was covered in the regions that mattered, so she didn't care that much. She hobbled over to Mercy, walking slow as to not fall in the rubble, and handed her the key.

Mercy stared at it and her eyes widened. "It's Widow's key!" she cheered. She then hopped up and threw her arms around Penny, causing them to tumble from the rubble and fall on the flat, cold floor of the path ahead. She giggled, while Penny wheezed. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she cheered, sitting on Penny's abdomen and hugging the key to her chest.

Penny let her head fall back, and while she was smiling, she said, "Mercy, dearest... I simply cannot… Breathe." Her voice got weaker and weaker as she spoke.

"Sorry!" Mercy jumped up, but her legs felt like jelly, and this caused her to fall right back to her knees. Not that she cared. She had a new key!

The members of the team smiled at Mercy's joy and one by one, they pulled themselves from the rubble, with Sayomi and Isoko helping Elizabeth down, as her leg was still injured. Henri was already at the base of the rubble, digging through his backpack, which had been pretty battered by the fall, but most things were still intact.

"P-Penny… D-do you have any h-healing potions?" Henri asked once he had found his first aid kit.

Penny looked at her belt, noticing the eight potions that she had in one of the holsters. She then opened another one of the holsters and dug through it, finding two different vials and popping the corks. She began to mold them, her brows furrowing as she realized she had tired herself out weakening the explosion of the monster. Still, she concentrated, and once the magic had molded, she moved over to Elizabeth, molding the magic around her leg, still focusing, sweat dotting her forehead. After a moment, the liquid dissipated.

Elizabeth felt some of the pain in her leg fade and she looked down. Her stockings were ripped and the one on her injured leg was mostly shredded. She could see the blood all over her leg and under that were bruises.

"That should at least clean it up and relieve some pain," Penny said, leaning back on her knees and sighing. The life of a mage was stressful and at that moment, she would love to just go to the washroom and redo her makeup and try to fix the train wreck that was her hair. And a shower to get all of the dust, dirt and blood off of her skin would be heaven.

"Thank you," Henri said in a small voice. He then turned to Elizabeth and bandaged up her leg. "D-Do you think you'll be able to walk?"

Elizabeth nodded after lifting her knee to her chest and putting some pressure on it. It was sore, but she didn't have much of a choice; they needed to find the other mages as fast as possible!

Isoko pulled her gaming lacrima from her pocket and checked it, surprised when she saw that it wasn't broken. She breathed a sigh of relief and put it away. She was standing, combing her fingers through her hair and trying to get some of the dirt out of it, wrinkling her nose when she pulled a gob of spider webs out of the back of it.

"We need to get going," Sayomi said, standing and hooking the lantern to her belt-loop.

"I need to make my contract!" Mercy said, hopping up again, wobbling a bit and leaning on Henri, who was now standing. Everyone was standing around her when she held the key in front of her, twisting it and calling out, "Open Gate of the Spider, Widow!"

Within a shadowy black magic circle, a woman with the lower woman of a black widow spider appeared. She looked fairly young, with long black hair that had a net of webs over it, bright, red eyes with spider-webs in them. Her torso was covered in a black dress that looked similar to Blair's, holding up her bust so that a bit of cleavage was apparent. The dress had a white and red spider-web pattern. Her arms were bare and currently crossed over her chest.

"Are you Mercy?" the spider woman, Widow asked in a soft, polite voice.

"Yes! I wanna make a contract with you!" Mercy said, holding her arms under her chin and jumping up and down, while still leaning against Henri, who was supporting her. She looked like she was about to burst from excitement.

"Oh… J-Jeepers and Blaire have spoken of you," Widow said, blushing brightly, her grayish pale skin turning pink when she mentioned Jeepers. She seemed to go into a sparkly fantasy for just a few moments. "I will gladly make a contract with you!"

With that, they began to talk about times that Widow would be available and when Mercy would be allowed to summon her. After that, Widow parted ways after introducing herself to Mercy's teammates.

Mercy added the new key to her key-ring and then turned to her teammates, her eyes shining brightly. "I'm so happy!" she said, clapping her hands together.

With that, the rest of the members congratulated Mercy and they started walking the only way they could go. There was no way for them to get back to the hole that they had fallen through, as the debris was piled high. They walked sluggishly, as all of them were worn from the battle and the fall. All of them were tinted brown from dust and dirt and their clothing looked rugged.

"We totally had that if he didn't explode," Sayomi eventually said, trying to make conversation.

"Definitely," Penny said. "He couldn't run, after all."

"We totally would have owned him." Isoko agreed.

"We're the bestest team ever!" Mercy cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

* * *

><p>They walked for what seemed like a few hours, before they had to make a camp. It was hard to tell if they were making any kind of progress. The path still looked the same and the only thing was that it seemed to be getting colder and colder. They needed warmth, so they resulted in each taking a couple of articles of clothing from their backpack and making a pile, before Elizabeth used a bit of fire magic to ignite them. The fire barely burned, as the oxygen level in the cave was low, but the fact that there was an oxygen level made Team Crystal hopeful that they would find something soon.<p>

They gathered around the fire, and after eating some of the non-perishable food that they had packed, they all found themselves sitting around the fire, all lost in their own little worlds.

"Eli," Isoko started after a bit. She had been playing with her gaming lacrima, but after beating a level, she decided to talk with her team. "Isn't your birthday tomorrow?"

Elizabeth looked up from the fire, which she had been staring at. "Um, yeah," she said, after a moment of thought.

"Well, happy birthday, in case we get into something and I forget," Isoko said with a smile.

Upon hearing that it was the birthday of a teammate, the other members of the team chimed in, wishing her a happy birthday.

"We should celebrate after we complete this mission, yes?" Penny asked. "We will all buy presents and everything."

"I can ask Blair to cook for us!" Mercy said, clapping her hands together.

"I'll h-help with whatever is needed," Henri said with a small smile.

"Thanks, you guys…" Elizabeth said with a tiny twitch of a smile. She was partially embarrassed that Isoko knew her birthday and she was even more embarrassed by the fact that her team wanted to celebrate. It made her feel wanted. Then again, that was one of her motives for joining a guild, right? Being independent was just too lonely. Now, even if they were in the ground, in a cold, stale cave, she was far from alone.

"Hey, it's what a team if for," Sayomi said with a small grin.

* * *

><p>They ended up taking a small nap in the cave, though no one was really able to sleep comfortably. The cave lacked a strong source of air and it was cold, even with the fire and sleeping close together. So, after a few hours, they were back on the path, walking with Sayomi leading the way.<p>

The walk held idle chat about books and games and such, but it all stopped when they came to a solid steel wall. The group stopped and stared up at it, once again wondering what they were going to do. Henri was the one who spoke first this time.

"The earth has errodded away from it," he said, mispronouncing the word "erode" as he stepped forward. He could fit his hand through the crevice in between the cave wall and the steel wall, at least on the left. He could feel the cold steal of the next wall next to it.

"Eroded, dear," Penny corrected with a small smile. That was something that she had already noticed about Henri. While he seemed to constantly be reading, he didn't talk a lot, so while he seemed to have a wide span of vocabulary, he couldn't always pronounce it right. She tried to help him with this, and he had already stated that he was grateful for it.

"Th-thank you," Henri mumbled.

"So, we need to just break the earth away, right?" Sayomi asked. "Then we can find an entrance into whatever this is."

"We need to be careful," Elizabeth said, placing her hands on her hips and stepping forward. "We don't even know what this is, after all."

"But… What other than a dark guild would keep some sort of underground building?" Mercy asked.

"It could be a bomb shelter or some sort of storage building," Isoko said.

"Either way, we have to get past it to keep going," Sayomi said.

She was right. Either way, if they didn't find some sort of way past the building, if it was even a full building, they were trapped underground. So, after exchanging glances, she and Elizabeth took the front lines, using their magic to either turn the rocks to other items and break them away, or use very weak, uncontrolled earth magic to try to manipulate them. Henri summoned a steel golem to help them and the rest of them sat back, unable to do anything to help.

* * *

><p>"Master, we will fight them," a woman hissed from behind Eyren, who was in an unknown location and room, staring at many floating lacrima screens, his bushy brows furrowed in concern.<p>

"You will do no such thing," Eyren replied in a surprisingly calm voice. "They are just trying to get past the building. Even if they notice a window or anything, they will not be able to get to in and if undisturbed, they will move along."

"They will find a way in. They're part of that pesky guild that you and Alnon were part of!" the woman replied, stomping her foot into the steel floor of the building and placing her hands on her hips. Her dark purple lips were curled into a vicious scowl.

"No, they will not!" Eyren snapped, his calm instantly disappearing without warning. "Besides, even if they try anything, I don't need two of my best experiments fighting them off. We'll send some of the less stable ones! 301 already did his toll on them, after all!"

The woman used one model-like, silver-skinned hand to flip her silvery platinum blonde hair over her shoulders, the curls on the end of the long, wavy locks bouncing. She folded her arms over her large bosom-which was covered by a light summer dress that was white in color, and poked her dark lips out. The slit-like pupils of her bright green eyes drifted to the side.

Eyren glared at her, but turned his attention back to one of the lacrima monitors which showed the griffins as they tunneled their way past the building. They were on the lower east wall of the cross-shaped build, and while they would soon be nearing one of the windows of the building, they would only be able to see bars, so maybe it wouldn't catch their interest.

"Don't be so down, my lovely sugar-buns," another man that was in the room with them spoke now, walking over to the woman and wrapping an arm around her, placing his oddly colored hand on her hip and kissing her neck. "We'll get to fight soon. I'll take you out for a nice lovely fight when Alnon gives us the word."

The man was tall, probably standing a couple of inches over six feet, and he was dressed rather lavishly, with a white, dressy pants and shirt, along with a black waistcoat, tie and shoes. His head was shaven with a large, bold "237" printed on the right side of it, but that didn't harm his handsome, chiseled features, which were accompanied by ivory skin and bright green eyes that really popped due to his lack of hair and delicate skin. While only his hands showed this feature, his arms and legs were a rusty brown color and looked as if they were nothing but muscle-no skin or bones.

The woman tried to pull away from him at first, rolling her eyes and making a pouting noise, but when they made eye contact, she smiled to herself. "Will there be lots of pain for them?" she asked in a tone of yearning, leaning her head on the man's collarbone.

"Of course, my precious Syllia…" he said, kissing her lips, gently. "Lots of pain…"

"And will we watch their spirits break as we tear them to shreds?" she asked, returning his kiss. As she spoke, an oddly forked tongue lashed from her lips and sliced open his bottom lip and she lapped up the blood.

"Of course. Only the most heart-wrenching of battles for you, my love," the man responded, smiling lovingly at the woman.

"Oh, Jaeger-" Syllia was interrupted by Eyren.

"Oh, please!" the elderly man snapped. "I knew I was making a mistake by not erasing your memories!" he growled.

"Our love would be far too strong for simple magic to erase it!" Jaeger protested, glaring at the man who had turned them into Dusk Hydra experiments. They were programmed to call him master; programmed to fight for the guild and die if needed, but that didn't stop them from arguing with the elderly man.

Eyren was about to snap, when Syllia pointed one slender finger at the lacrima that was showing the griffins.

* * *

><p>"It looks like window," Sayomi commented in a whisper, holding the lantern up to the black bars, which were so thick that they really couldn't see into them. Not that it really mattered, as the window was about eight feet from the ground and there wasn't enough space to get back far enough for them to see into it.<p>

"We should make a human tower!" Mercy cheered, her voice well-exceeding the volume of a whisper. When all of her teammates looked at her, tears filled her eyes and her head dropped to the ground. "M'sorry," she mumbled.

"It is fine, love," Penny whispered, patting her back. "Your idea is simply splendid, and I do agree," she added, in a whisper.

They then began exchanging glances and after a moment, Isoko was in the air, with Penny holding one of her feet and Henri and Mercy holding the other, while Sayomi held the lamp and Elizabeth stood back, as to not agitate the injury on her leg. Sayomi had offered to just fly, but they all agreed that if possible, she needed conserve magic, since her magic was pretty costly on her reserves.

"Can you see anything?" Mercy whispered when she saw Isoko peering into the window, her fingers on the cold steel ledge.

Isoko squinted, trying her best to see into it, but after a moment, decided that the bars were too close together to really get a grasp of what was going on. She could see bright lights and the smell of chemicals filled her nose. She opened her mouth to report back, but when she heard voices, she stopped, freezing. She looked down and motioned for the other griffins to lower her just a bit, and then pressed leaned against the wall, hoping to hear what they were saying.

_"Are you sure they'll be ready to attack within the month?" a deep, elderly voice asked. "Alnon is quite frustrated right now…"_

_ "The black-haired one woke up, but we put him back to sleep," another voice responded. It was the voice of another elderly male, but it wasn't as deep as the first._

_ "He unhooked himself, though," a stern female voice reported. _

_ "Yes, he fought, but we will work on him. He will-" the voice was interrupted._

_ "MOVE THEM!" another voice interrupted. It was an elderly voice, filled with annoyance._

_ "Excuse me, Master Alnon?" the deeper voice asked. "Phase one of the experiments on the griffins-"_

_ "Are you STUPID?!" the voice boomed. "Unhook them and retreat now!"_

Isoko leaned back, her heart pounding her head. They were in there. They were being experimented on. Did that mean they would turn out like those things with the numbers? Was that what the experiments were? The thought made her head spin, as she imagined meeting people that used to be guild members, but were now distorted into various monstrosities. She pressed her ears back to the metal, but all she could hear was the faint sounds of people moving, no more conversation.

All of Team Crystal was dead still for a few moments. While they could faintly hear voices, the other griffins, who were all near the wall, didn't hear the conversation, as they were not that close to the window. After about a minute passed, Isoko hopped down, her expression serious.

"They are in there, but they're moving them," she explained in a low voice. "We have to get in there."

The eyes of the other griffins widened, but after a moment, they all nodded. Crystal had stressed so much that panicking would get them nowhere fast. They needed to think quickly, move quickly and hit hard if they ran into any opposition. They had one goal and they needed to succeed at all costs!

"Do you think you'll be able to get through it, Sayomi?" Elizabeth asked.

Sayomi's brows furrowed and she played with the ends of her hair. "I don't know," she admitted. However, she focused her magic on the black bars, trying to be as silent as possible. She tried to mold them into folded bars, but they were strong and after a few seconds, she stepped back and shook her head.

"C-Can I try something?" Henri asked, his voice low just like everyone else's. He stepped forward and raised one of his hands, a white and green magic circle appearing at the end of his fingertips. "Enchanting Magic: Stone Blight!" he called. With that, the bars began to emit an almost invisible black aura.

When Sayomi noticed the aura, she tried again, her eyes widening when the bars bent after just a minute of focus. "Let's move," she said, ignoring the fact that she was exhausting herself. Between training and then fighting the Vulcan and tunneling. She wanted to rest. But she couldn't.

She and Penny started hoisting people up one by one. At the end, Sayomi lifted Penny up, threw her in, and then stumbled forward, leaning her forehead against the cool metal of the building. This was more work than she had done in all of her years as a mage, for sure. She couldn't let it get to her. She was about to summon her wings, when she looked up to see Penny's hands.

"I am sorry, lovely," Penny whispered down to her. "We will be positively sure to go out and get our hairs and nails done when this over," she assured.

Sayomi sweat-dropped at this. She wasn't really that type of girl, but she had a feeling that that sounded like the best prize of all to Penny, so she smiled and took her hands, pressing her foot to the wall as scaled it and pulled herself through the window.

They found themselves in a lab with bright lighting overhead. There were table-like beds in the room, all of which were still arranged with the top half at a forty-five degree angle, the machines still over them, blood dripping from the two needles of each contraption. There were all sorts of lab materials, including a chemistry set and a bunch of lacrima on the far table, and a small surgical knife and some other complex materials on each of the small tables that were beside the bed. Most of the materials were stained with blood, some of which looked pretty fresh.

Without even saying anything, the six started to sprint for the only door in the room, which was left open. However, they stopped when two people walked through said door.

"Oh… I simply cannot wait to tell Eyren how we slaughtered these sad, pitiful weaklings," Syllia said, smiling lovingly up at her husband. Somewhere along the lines, she had lost her dress, and was now dressed in a simple, white bikini top and bottom, with the top tying around her back and behind her neck, allowing for an ample amount of cleavage. Apart from the swimsuit and the black chaps on her legs, she wore nothing. Apart from her cleavage, her most notable feature was the thick, black, armored scorpion tail jutting from her spin and curling around her body, the large silver stinger catching the florescent light.

"Yes, my dearest schmumpkin," Jaeger agreed.

Isoko grimaced at the display of affection and within a flash of light and the utterance "Requip of the Gamer: Paladin" she was in thick, white armor, a golden cross shining on the breastplate, her legs and feet covered with matching armor. Her head was left exposed, but she had a large, round shield that was about half her size in height and about a foot and half wide in diameter, with a golden crown decorating in her left hand-which was covered in a white gauntlet, and a long, double-sided sword with a golden hilt in her right hand-which had the same style gauntlet on it.

Isoko let out a small breath, reminding herself that she was a mage like she wanted to be, and that meant being brave. Closing her eyes, she charged at the two, pushing the male away with sheer force and causing the male to dodge to the other side of the room, and driving the female into a corner, blocking her tail with her shield, glaring as bright green poison dripped everywhere.

"Go, go!" Elizabeth cried! "We'll deal with these two!"

Mercy, Sayomi, Penny and Henri nodded and made a quick run for the door.

To keep the man off of them, Elizabeth called out, "Elemental Magic: Water Impale!" causing a jet of water to shoot from her palm and send the man flying into the far wall, allowing for the griffins to escape.

The woman attempted again to hit Isoko with her tail, the armored extension stretching and spraying poison around Isoko, who managed to guard with her shield.

"GRAAAHHHH!" Syllia snarled. "Just who do you think you are, you little whore?!" she snapped, attempting to punch and claw furiously at Isoko.

Elizabeth saw the struggle that Isoko was having and she pressed her hands to the ground and cried, "Elemental Magic: Water Burst!" However, she didn't even get to see if the spell went through, as Jaeger hit her hard with an uppercut, causing blood to fly from her jaw as her small body flew into the air.

Her spell went through, though, and Syllia went flying into the air as well, screeching in annoyance as she slammed into the ceiling.

"Syllia, my love!" Jaeger turned her attention to where the woman had landed, not even noticing Isoko before she barreled into him, shield-first, crashing into to wall and causing a bunch of flasks to rain down from the shelves above them. While Isoko blocked with her shield and held the man in place with her blade, the man wasn't able to do anything, wincing as shards of glass cut into his skin, causing magic to seep from the wounds.

Elizabeth rubbed her jaw as she pulled herself to her feet, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. She turned her attention to Syllia, who was also climbing to her feet.

"Stay away from my man, you dirty tramp!" she screeched, not even paying much mind to Elizabeth. She opened her mouth and her forked tongue shot out across the room, dripping with bright green acid as it whipped Isoko's right arm, causing the mage to wince as the acid sunk in between the crevices of her armor and burned her skin.

Jaeger freed himself when this happened and kicked Isoko square in the chest, sending her flying into one of the beds, all of the complex surgical tools falling onto her, leaving her armor stained with the blood of one of her guild-mates.

"Gross…" Elizabeth hissed under her breath upon seeing Syllia's elongated tongue.

"You bitch!" Syllia hissed, spitting acid all of over the room from her mouth. She extended her tail, but Jaeger stopped her, dashing forward, and attacking Elizabeth, throwing punch after punch, hitting her in various places of her face and upper body.

Isoko pulled herself from the table and jumped up, running and skidding as she placed herself in between Elizabeth, holding her shield to take the shots.

Elizabeth, now with her body battered, one of her eyes swollen shut-gave Isoko a look of gratitude. When Isoko looked over her shoulder and they made eye contact, Isoko's pale eye went to Syllia, who had stopped fighting as she watched Jaeger fight. Elizabeth nodded and despite the fact that she was sore, she got up and a colorful magic circle appeared in front of her and she mumbled, "Elemental Magic: Wind Cutter!" and with the swipe of her arm, razor sharp wind cut through the air, slicing open Syllia's chest.

Syllia stared down at the cut for a few moments, watching as red and green magic fumes leaked from it. "I'm. So. Tired. Of. Them…." She hissed, her tongue lashing out and dripping with acid.

"You two little girls think you're so strong," Jaeger commented, stepping back. Even with the glass falling on him, he wasn't really injured. "Do you really think you can beat us, or any member of our guild for that matter? You're just weak and scared. I can see the fear in your eyes."

"We're not scared," Elizabeth replied in a flat tone, standing straight, though her muscles quivered from the pain of bruises. Her stockings were pretty much gone, other than the shreds that poked over her boots, she had lost her jacket and one of her gloves. Her hair had mostly fallen down now and her butterfly clip was missing, and the mop of colors was matted and caked with dirt. A drop of blood ran from the corner of her mouth and a streak of blood ran down her injured leg.

"Nope," Isoko agreed. She wasn't in such a bad shape, though she had resulted in unequipping the gauntlet on her the arm that the acid had hit, and her skin was red and warped from the magic. Her armor was stained with blood, but it wasn't hers. "We'll take you two down," she said, raising her blade.

Jaeger glared and after he heard Syllia stomping, he charged forward and what he did next surprised Isoko.

When he charged at her, she raised her shield, but his jaws began to stretch and expand in a gross fashion and he chomped down on her shield, breaking it in half with his powerful jaws and then taking the broken piece of shield and attempting to shove the sharp edge into Isoko's collarbone.

Elizabeth quickly casted her "Water Burst" spells, uttering it under her breath. When Jaeger flew into the air, Isoko dropped her shield and jumped into the air, placing all of her might into a swing that Jaeger blocked with one of his arms. The white blade of the sword still cut into his skin, but it did not do nearly the damage that she was hoping for.

She fell to the ground with a thud and neither of the girls had time to react before Syllia's stinger, which was now a fine point able to fit between the weak points in Isoko's armor, stabbed into Isoko's neck, secreting a blood red venom.

Isoko managed to snatch away when she felt the small prick, but her eyes went dull when the poison took affect and she felt nothing but pain. She fell to her knees and her requip vanished. She let out an involuntary cry of pain as dark red web-like veins crawled up her neck, covering her cheek, and down her shoulders and chest, though they were invisible under her hoodie. She couldn't do anything but curl into a fetal position and use her right arm to claw at the place where the stinger had stabbed, hoping to get some of the poison out.

Elizabeth was about to cry out as she watched her friend-barely noticing as Jaeger landed in front of her, but she remembered something that Crystal had drilled into them; they mustn't lose composure, even at the injury or death of an ally. Mages were injured on nearly every difficult mission and death was a possibility. Losing composure would only mean more losses for the guild and upon joining a guild, you agreed to leave for that guild.

"We've got you where we want you," Jaeger taunted. "You're just going to watch your friend die and then we'll find the rest of your friends and kill them, too."

"My love is right," Syllia said, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking deviously. "You little brats have come to the wrong place this time." Her long, forked tongue lashed out, dripping out more acid magic as she did so. A yellow liquid began to drip from her tail and she shot her tail forward, stabbing it into Jaeger's back, at the base of his neck.

It didn't seem like much happened at first, but after a second, his muscles grew, making him a lot more bulky, his shirt buttons popping off and leaving him with awkwardly fitting clothing.

"Ooohhh… Hun, I could devour you right now…" Syllia purred, letting her tail slide sensually against his chest and then his cheek before retreating it.

"Oh, sugar-buns, tonight, my love…" Jaeger purred back, winking at her.

Elizabeth's eye twitched, but she took their little moment to look to Isoko, who seemed to be trying to fight the poison, though the entire left side of her body-the side where the stinger went in-was covered in red lines and her eye was severely bloodshot. She was on her back, gripping her left arm with her right.

"I'll be fine…" Isoko wheezed when her head fell to the left and she saw Elizabeth staring at her. "Kick… Th-their asses…"

Not that Elizabeth would have to do anything, as Syllia began screeching as a dark magenta magic circle appeared over her chest, glowing brightly.

"What did you do, you evil slut?!" she wailed at Elizabeth, tears streaming down her face. Whatever was going on, it hurt.

Jaeger's eyes widened and he ran over to Syllia, holding her close. "It's okay, baby… I'm sure it's nothing…" he said, trying to calm her as she screamed and stomped her feet. He had never seen her react so loudly and violently to anything, so he found himself worrying.

Elizabeth's body went into overdrive when she remembered the circle on the vulcan's chest. She ran over, tucked her arms under Isoko's pits, and pulled her behind a table on the side of the room furthest from Syllia, holding her close and closing her eyes. The room they were in was not that large, and if the explosion was even close to the one of the Vulcan's…

"SSSSYYYYLLLLIIIIIIIAAAA!" Jaeger's cries could probably be heard throughout the entire base when the woman burst into acid and venom, her cries of pain still ringing through the air. The man screamed the name of his wife over and over again, oblivious to the small burns that formed on his skin from the acid. The pain of the venom that dripped into these wounds didn't even affect him as he screamed over and over, falling to his knees and leaning back on his haunches and sobbing pitifully.

Elizabeth flinched when green, red and yellow slime splattered on the wall behind them, oozing down it. They were safe from it, behind the black-top table that they hid behind.

"It-it's sad…." Isoko wheezed, as they listened to the man cry. She leaned back on Elizabeth's shoulder and let out a sigh. The pain was starting to fade and while she had thought that the pain that Crystal had made them endure in their training was the worst she had felt, she was wrong. She never wanted to experience anything like that again. She still couldn't even see out of her left eye and it hurt to even think about moving her left arm.

Elizabeth nodded. She thought about poking her head out from behind the table, but she instantly decided against it because the voice of an elderly man stopped her.

"JAEGERR!" the elderly man, Eyren roared when he walked into the room. "I told you two not to fight!" he snapped.

Jaeger only sobbed in response.

"Come with me, now!" Eyren demanded, glaring down at the man. "You two have done enough now!" He assumed that whatever was in the room before was probably dead from the acid. If not, Jaeger would have said something, he assumed.

Footsteps could be heard as the two left and for a few minutes, the two griffin girls sat still, waiting silence and taking a moment to rest.

After a few minutes, Elizabeth poked her head out from behind the table, seeing that the entire lab was bathed in acid and venom now. They both had shoes on and if they stepped lightly, maybe they would be able to get out. However… She looked back to Isoko, who was staring down at her arms. "Can you walk?" she asked.

Isoko looked back up at her and nodded. "Yeah… I can force myself," she responded. With that, they both stood shakily. Isoko saw the state of the room and frowned. Her leg wasn't as bad as her upper-body, thankfully.

* * *

><p>"Should we split up?" Sayomi asked once they were outside of the lab and faced with two different hallways that they could go down.<p>

"I do not find this to be appropriate, dear," Penny said. "We will need to carry the people we rescue, and we already have less than eight team members."

"Right," Sayomi nodded.

"Let's go to the right," Mercy said, clapping her hands together.

After a few exchanges of glances, they began to walk to the right. They walked swiftly along the walls, surprised that they didn't see anybody. Maybe they were evacuating. They passed doors, sparing only short glances and looking for anything that seemed like they may be members of the guild. Though, Penny and Mercy both had the thoughts of not really knowing what the griffins looked like in their minds.

They soon came to a dead end, where only one door was. They looked into the square window that was on the door and saw a stairwell that led downward.

"Should we?" Sayomi asked in a hushed tone. It didn't seem likely that they would be going further down into the earth to escape with the griffins. She tried the door and after a small tug, she felt that it was going to open.

However, the other three members didn't have time to answer as voices behind them startled them.

"HEY! Those must be the intruders!" one of them shouted.

"Should we really go after them without an experiment to back us up?" the other asked.

"We have no choice! They'll get away!" the first responded.

"Run," Sayomi said, opening the door. They didn't need to fight when they were cornered. Maybe the area downstairs would be more open.

"I-I'll hold them off at the bottom of the stairs," Mercy offered. She already had Widow's key in her hand, a smirk on her face.

They ran down the stairs, no one even bothering to look over their shoulders. Sayomi had slammed the door behind them, but they had heard it open, so they were only waiting to get to the bottom of the stairs.

They went down two flights of stairs and at the bottom, the fluorescents were gone, and the stone walls were lit with torches.

"I dislike the change in décor," Penny commented, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Mercy, dear, do you have this?" she then asked, noticing that they were in a long hallway, each side lined with thick, iron doors that had bars on them. She figured Mercy or Henri would be the best bet, since Sayomi needed to conserve magic and she herself was more of a support mage.

"I do!" Mercy cheered, slowing while the other griffins ran ahead. "Open Gate of the Spider, Widow!" she called, twisting the key into a black, shadowy magic circle.

When Widow appeared, Mercy quickly shouted, "Quick, trap those two in webs!"

"As you wish," Widow responded. She then turned around and shot a gob of webs that covered the two scientists, causing them to fall to the ground and become entangled. She then stomped her feet and many little spiders came from her abdomen, flocking the two scientists, who were screaming.

"I told you this wasn't going to work!" the second scientist shouted at the first, as tiny spiders bit into his skin and crawled all over them. The only difference between the heavily clothed men was that the one who was currently talking wore his medical mask around his neck at the moment. Their hair was hidden in a surgical cap.

Mercy snickered, clapping her hands together. "They don't even have magic, I bet," she spoke to Widow.

"I do believe they have a key," Widow pointed out, after seeing a glimmer in the pocket of one of the scientists. When Mercy let out a sound of awe, Widow shot a small string of web from her rump and retrieved the key from his pocket, smirking as he cried for her to give it back.

Meanwhile, the other three members of Silver Griffin ran ahead, peaking into every door. The first few were empty, but eventually, they began to see prisoners; all of them were people that looked tired and starved, and they were pretty sure by the look, some of them were dead or at death's door.

"This is horrible…. We have to save these people," Sayomi mumbled under her breath. However, she tried the doors to find that all of them were locked.

"Guys…" Henri mumbled. When Penny and Sayomi looked over, they saw that he was peering through one of the doors, his back turned to them.

When they walked over and peeped in, they saw four of the griffins, chained up, all unconscious.

"That's them!" Sayomi hissed under her breath, her brows furrowing. "Or, at least it's four of them!" She grabbed the door and tried to use her magic on it, only to fail, finding that it was magic resistant.

"Henri, help," she said, pulling on the handle as hard as she could, albeit with no success.

"I got a key!" Mercy cheered in a soft tone, running towards them, Widow following her with the two scientists tied up in webs, struggling and cursing them. She stopped in front of them, and when Sayomi moved out of the way, she tried the key on the door, surprised when it unlocked.

"Go to hell, you bunch of brats! There's no way four of you are going to escape Dusk Hydra with four dying people in tow!" one of the men snapped. They were both on Widow's back, tied to her in such a way that the only movements they could make were pathetic little wiggles.

"I'm sorry to do this," Widow said, before she wrapped the mouths of the two scientists in webs and then turned her attention to the griffins, who were walking into the cell.

"They look so bad…" Sayomi said, covering her mouth as she looked at Shiloh, Marionette, Fame and Julius. "Are… Are…?" she couldn't bring herself to ask the question.

Penny stepped forward, after motioning for people to move out of the doorway so that light could come into the cell. She knelt next to each of the unconscious mages and checked their necks and chest for pulse and breathing, as she couldn't get to their wrists. "They're alive," she said, after checking all of them. "Mercy, dear, can you try that key on these locks?" she asked, pointing to the locks on the wall.

Mercy nodded and ran over, freeing each of the four mages from the wall, Penny helping to lower them to the ground so that they didn't just fall forward.

Penny then knelt next to Julius, whom she was closest to, and laid him over her lap, cradling his neck in her left arm while she pulled out one of the eight small vials from her holster. She used her thumb to gently open his mouth, and then popped the cork, slowly pouring the liquid down his throat, holding him so that he hopefully wouldn't choke on it.

"What is that?" Sayomi asked. She and Henri were standing guard, but they would both peek in every-so-often.

"It's a nutrition potion," Penny said. "I figured they wouldn't be well-fed wherever they were kept, so I made these up. They'll still need to eat as soon as they wake up, if we're in the position to do so." She then stood up and went over to Shiloh, doing the same thing. However, she was surprised when Shiloh began coughing.

"Oh, dear, try to keep it down, please!" Penny said, both referring to noise and the potion. She sat Shiloh up and rubbed at her back.

Shiloh covered her mouth and tried to silence her coughing. "W-water…" she wheezed. Whatever was in her mouth, it was bitter to the point of burning, at least a thousand times worse than an orange peel.

Mercy pulled her canteen from her backpack and walked over, handing it to her. "Here you go!"

Shiloh drank quickly and after a moment, her coughing slowed and feeling weak, she leaned against Penny's shoulder, involuntarily. She was disoriented, but she was aware when she was passed to the girl who had handed her the bottle, the other girl getting up and walking over to Marionette.

Marionette had the same reaction, the bitter liquid making her wake up with a cough.

Penny handed over her water bottle this time, helping Marionette to hold it, as the woman was shaking horribly. She looked oddly familiar, and when she spoke, Penny's eyes widened.

"Oh, heavens, how distasteful," Marionette mumbled, referring to pretty much everything about her situation. She was dirty, starving, thirsty to the point of drinking after someone else, and her mouth had a horrendously bitter taste in it. On top of that, while her arms were free, the shackles that bound her magic were still present. However, when she looked up and saw Penny, her eyes widened as well. "Penny?"

"Oh, I knew I was right!" Penny said, pulling Marionette in a tight hug. "I almost failed to recognize you given our situation, dear! My sincerest apologies." She added with a laugh.

Marionette returned her laugh with a small, weak laugh of her own. "Oh, I understand, dearest. I could say the same for you."

Penny pulled back, smiling brightly at her. She then stood once she was certain that Marionette could sit up on her own. "I must finish my work," she said, walking over to Fame. Like Julius, he didn't react to the potion and Penny ended up sitting him back on the ground when she was certain that the liquid had went down his throat.

"You two know each other?" Shiloh asked. She was standing, though she was leaning against the wall, her legs shaking horribly. She wondered how long it had been since she had been able to stand.

"Oh, yes," Marionette said. "We've met a few times in the past, anyway," she added. She and Penny exchanged glances that seemed to have a hidden meaning before both of them smiled at each other.

"Did any of you happen to find my keys, or any of the other mages?" Shiloh asked, examining the bands that were on her wrists, wondering if there was some way to get them off. She was also worried about the four who had been taken. They hadn't seen or heard any sign of them after they were taken and she didn't even want to think about what was happening to them.

Mercy's eyes widened at Shiloh's words and she jumped over to Shiloh, grabbing one of her arms and beaming up at her. "You're the other celestial mage?" she asked.

Shiloh smiled kindly. "I am a celestial mage, yes," she said. She then noticed the key-ring that was on Mercy's skirt. "You are, as well?" she asked.

"Yep! I'm really happy to meet you, I'm Mercy," Mercy introduced herself.

"I'm Shiloh, but most people just call me Loh," Shiloh responded with a gentle, weak smile.

Sayomi stepped in now. "All weapons were found," she said. She then dug through her backpack and handed Shiloh her keyring. "We couldn't bring anything else as it would have been burdened us in our attempts, according to Crystal."

Shiloh thanked Sayomi and then placed her keyring on her belt after checking to make sure all of them were there.

Penny turned to Marionette and Shiloh. "Can you two walk?" she asked.

Shiloh took a step forward, and while she was shaking, she managed to stay on her feet. "I think so..."

Marionette stood, stumbled and wobbled, and after leaning against the wall for a moment, nodded. "I do believe I am capable of standing."

"Good," Penny said with a small smile. She then turned to Fame and Julius. "I do believe that we will have the utmost difficulty in carrying these two, as they are both much taller than us."

As if luck was on their side, Julius started stirring, letting out a loud groan and rolling over. Upon realizing that he was able to roll, his eyes shot open and he tried to set up, only to have his elbow give out on him and cause him to hit the floor. "Tch…" he growled.

"Take it easy," Penny said, walking over to Julius and helping him to sit up, leaning him against her. "You're probably quite weak."

"I don't need your help!" Julius hissed, pulling away from Penny and immediately falling again. Though he would never admit it, he felt insecure, with his lack of glasses and his magic bound. He didn't know most of the people that were in the cell, either.

"Oh, really?" Penny's own snark came out and she stood, placing her hands against her hip. "Well, I guess you can find your own way back to the guildhall with your magic bound, then."

Sayomi rolled her eyes. "Julius, this is not the time to be fighting us," she said in her own strict tone. "We're here to save you guys and making us mad probably won't get you anywhere."

Julius growled, but when Sayomi tried to help him up, he let her. She noticed all the blood on his wrists and how the cuffs were practically embedded and she rolled her eyes. Dumb, hardheaded jerk, she thought to herself.

When Fame started to wake, Penny stuck her nose up to the thought of trying to help someone else, but after a moment, she walked over to him. He tensed at her touch, but he didn't say anything; only groaned.

It took them a bit of time to get the mages on their feet and when they did, they began their inquiry on the scientists. This resulted in Penny holding a dagger to their throat and Widow glaring at them before they broke and the one with the mask made a small chant that seemed to be in a different language and the shackles burst, revealing the small cuts on Marionette's and Shiloh's wrists and the gashes on Fame's and Julius's wrists.

Henri instantly found his medical kit and despite the grumbling from Fame and Julius, bandaged them up.

Almost instantly, in a burst of flames, Cane appeared and grabbed Shiloh, pulling her into a death-grip hug. "You're okay!" he said, holding her tight.

Shiloh laughed lightly and returned the hug, leaning into his chest. "I am… Cain," she said. It was comforting to have him near her again. She knew that they hadn't been imprisoned that long, but still, time passed slowly in their confinement.

"Oooohhh… Are you one of your spirits?" Mercy asked, hopping up to Cain and staring at him with large eyes.

Cain stepped back, though he kept one arm around Shiloh. "Why, yes, I am. My name is Cain. Pleasure to meet you," he said with a small bow, placing his hand over his heart.

"So cool! He's so handsome!" Mercy cheered.

"Why, thank you," Cain replied with a charming smirk that made Mercy squeal.

"You're gonna inflate his ego," Shiloh said with a small laugh, leaning her head on Cain's shoulder.

Sayomi cleared her throat and stepped forward. "While I know this is an odd reunion and such, we need to get going," she said, stepping forward. "However, we need to free these people, too."

"We don't have enough hands to help a bunch of injured people, though," Julius stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Tch," Fame flipped his hair out of his face before speaking. "It's not our problem and if they fight us, then we're boned."

"Surprised you'd admit you're weak, Jace," Shiloh commented.

"Go to hell," Fame replied.

"Excuse me…?" Cain asked, stepping forward and glaring at Fame with glowing eyes.

"Cain, it's okay," Shiloh quickly said. "He's a friend. I'm sure you'd remember him from Lotus if the lighting was better." And if he had a haircut and more fitting clothes, she thought, though she didn't say that. Besides, not that clothes really mattered; they'd all lost some weight, and their clothes were rugged from sliding against the wall and floor, so no one really looked dressed properly. That went for their saviors, too, though she didn't bother to question what they had been through to rescue them. She was only grateful.

Cain stepped back, but didn't take his eyes off of Fame.

"We have to save them, though," Sayomi insisted, trying to hide her annoyance at the attitudes in her team. "We can't just leave a bunch of people down here to be experimented on and left to die."

"May I suggest something?" Widow asked, stepping forward. When all eyes fell to her, she spoke. "Why don't Cain and I guide the prisoners? If they turn on us, we can just retreat and leave them to their own vices."

"This could be a plan," Cain agreed.

"I-I can summon my centaur to help," Henri added.

Penny pulled out four vials of blue potions. "These are magic potions. They will give spirits like you two a boost and possibly allow you to stay in this realm a bit longer," she said, handing two to Widow and two to Cain.

"Thank you," the two spirits said together.

With that, they sat the bound scientists against the wall and began to free the prisoners, acting quickly and repeating over and over again that they were mages of Silver Griffin here to save them and they didn't have time to talk. They were strict in letting the people know that if they had any qualms about following around two celestial spirits and a summoned centaur, they would have to find their own way out.

Most people were grateful to have been saved, especially the ones who were weaker. They ended up having to share most of their water with the ones that were close to death, and were surprised at how eager the prisoners were to help the ones who were too weak to walk.

It was a heart-wrenching task, as every third cell or so had at least one dead person in it, some of them who didn't look exactly human anymore. Some of them even had random numbers on them. Some people cried that they had watched their loved ones suffer to the death, and the only thing the griffins could do were offer weak condolences as they tried to be strong like the heroes that the prisoners saw them as.

Once everyone had been set free, Cain and Widow called the horde of around thirty people to follow them, and if they knew magic, fight beside them as they made their escape. Some people cheered while others cowered, but in the end, they all ended up following the two spirits and centaur.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hiya, guys~ Awkward as hell place to cut, but I'm not gonna get what I want done accomplished and I'm not rushing things. I wanted to get this mission complete because I start back to school on the 7th, and I know I won't be able to update until the weekend, if not a week from the weekend and I didn't want you guys to be left hanging, but this chapter will probably be close to 15k or 20k words if I finish this mission up. Anyway, hope you enjoyed._

_-There is a lot more stuff up on my profile. A couple of more visuals, some more details on arcs, OVAs, book ideas and stuff for Silver Griffin. I will say, I plan to at least finish Book 1, but if you guys lose interest, I won't do past Book 1… Hehe. I do have plans for many books, though and I'll keep writing as long as you guys keep reading and giving me some sign-even just a PM with "Hi!" as the subject that you are reading._

_-Next chapter-and maybe even the chapter after that, is completely planned. Expect a flashback explaining a bit on the relationship between Penny and Marionette, an introduction to a new griffin, Isoko and Elizabeth catching up to their team, however much I can get written of the mission before I realize it's super-long, and maybe some guild stuff or more light-hearted stuff if the chapter isn't too long._

_-Thank you all soooo much for your opinions on flashbacks. I plan to have them at the beginning or ends of the occasional chapter and they'll be italicized with a header that says "FLASHBACK, DATE OF FLASHBACK" or something so that the people that don't care don't have to read them, as most of them don't have to be read, if you don't care for relationship/character development. The next arc may have more of them, as it is the character development arc. I'll try my best to not interrupt the flow of the story with them, too._

_-**RAIYANE'S ANNOYING QUESTIONS CONTINUE! **Guys, I want to do a huge OVA for Valentine's Day that going to involve Winter getting Cupid's bow and shooting arrows at random griffins and making them fall in love with the first living thing they see. Are you guys interested in this? If so, are there any pairings-any at all, crack or otherwise, that you'd like to see happen? I'll be taking the most popular or most inspiring if characters get more than one pairing suggestion._

**_Review Responses_**

**_Thank you all so much as always! Also, just wanna note that we have hit 200 reviews and I'm ecstatic! That's so many! It makes me so happy! Thank you all, a thousand times over! Bunches of love from me!_**

_-MyDearWatson – I'm so happy you enjoyed the chapter! :3 Yeah. Fortune's one of those "Ewww… Girl talk," men, haha. X3 And the mission has been so much fun writing. I didn't expect it to get so lengthy, but I think it will be finished next chapter. If not, in the beginning of Chapter 17, for sure. I really probably should have halved this chapter, too. :U I personally enjoy flashbacks that haven't been seen in the story. I don't like how the anime to Naruto does it, where they are just pointless flashbacks that have been seen more than once, haha. X_X_

_-La Maitresse' Dame – That's exactly what I was going for. Crystal doesn't mind if she's the necessary evil in the guild. Yep! Some ships are definitely going to sail this arc! ;) I do believe this may be some of the inspiration behind Mercy. I also see Halloween in general being an inspiration behind her, and maybe the anime Soul Eater. :3 I agree with your opinions on flashbacks and I hope you don't mind a flashback regarding Marionette in the next chapter. I think it's necessary because I don't really see the girls talking about it, too much. ^^_

_-Baren – Yeah. I actually dislike doing cliffhangers but at the same time, I dislike how long my chapters can get. Then again, people should remember that about 1.5k of my chapter is author's note, because of the way I do my review responses. :3_

_-puffypuffin3 – I wanted to get the chapter out by New Years. :3 Anyway, I should totally draw that. I could do it, just using names instead of pictures until I get all of the griffins drawn. It would be huge, and may possibly reveal pairings, though, so maybe not until after the development arc, where more pairings are obvious. I'm really happy you like Fortune. He's fun to write. I'm happy I'm getting your character's right, and I'll remember that for later~ :D I'm not sure why I see Mercy and Penny being so close, but I agree that it is really cute~ :3 Hope this chapter didn't disappoint._

_-Zades – I'm so happy that my battle scenes are well written! I try my best to make sure that things can be visualized. :3 Sorry about the kiss not happening. I like to tease people, haha. ;)_

_-reven228 – I'm really happy you liked the chapter! I don't plan on using them that often and most of them won't be that long. They'll also be roped off so if someone doesn't want to read them, they don't have to. :3_

_-Origm2012 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter. As for your regards with the poll, Development won out by a lot, so I went ahead and closed it. I think a lot of people had the same thought process as you and I think that would be the biggest thing. Also, something I think I forgot was the fact that some characters may be couples by then and that will make their interactions during the exams different. :3_

_-FrozenBlast13 – Winter enjoys a good fight, too. She doesn't get to see them fight in battle that much, haha. She's just a prankster, pervy old woman. And thank you!_

_-Barrett M107 – You make amazing characters, though, so I'm not surprised! C: I'm terrible with snark, I don't think I do Ephraim justice sometimes. I'm actually one of the dense types that don't understand sarcasm, so I can't really write it without thinking hard on it or getting my fiancé-who is a sarcastic asshole most the time-to help me. I could see him being that way, in regards to Fortune. Mercy is lots of fun to write! :3 And happy you liked the chapter! :3_

_DarkHyena – Hehehe. I'll probably have lots of fun changing Mercy every-so-often when she messes her clothes up. XD I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! :3_


	16. Chapter 16

_**FLASHBACK, June 5**__**th**__**, X786 (Approximately 5 years prior to present fic), Evening**_

_ A young Marionette, slightly less developed in figure and with shorter hair, let out a small, inaudible sigh as her eyes scanned the area of the giant ballroom where many aristocratic and noble people from all over southern Fiore waltzed. The young woman, dressed in a flowing white gown with shimmering silver trim on it, was at the tables that lined the left side of the room, a glass of red wine held in her gloved palm._

_ Two hours was enough. Her jaws were sore from smiling and her dressed smelled worse than a brothel, with all of the smells of other people clashing with her own perfume. She, as the gorgeous daughter of the noble Malone family-and the only child present at the royal Sunflower Ball-she had greeted at least forty people over the two hours and had danced with at least ten of them, most of them being undesirable males that hoped to gain favor with her or her family so that he may take her hand in marriage. _

_ When she noticed another male, dressed in a standard black three piece with slick, pale blue hair approaching her, she quickly pretended not to notice and walked away. Her steps were fast paced, but not in such a fashion that it would look as if she was avoiding someone. Her eyes darted around the room until she saw a glass sliding door a few feet away. Hopefully, since the event had not been scheduled to be an outside event, there wouldn't be many people outside. _

_ She made it to the glass door and exited, stealing a quick glance over her shoulder and finding herself relieved that the male hadn't followed her. The night air was warm and dry and the smell of sunflowers invaded her senses. She looked around, surprised to see no one in the backyard of the overly yellow Sunflower manor. A couple of yards away was a field of sunflowers that spread as far as her eyes could see in the dark of the night. _

_ She let out a sigh of relief to find that she was alone and walked over to the field, which was surrounded by a fence that consisted of two horizontal logs and some log posts. She leaned against it and stared at the tall, bright yellow flowers. It wasn't necessarily that she hated events like the one that she attended; they were just boring and she found herself having to go to them all of the time. Just another "fancy" thing to make her life even less of the adventure that she sought after, really. _

_ The blonde was completely out of it until she heard a huff and the sounds of footsteps walking towards her. Her brows furrowed in annoyance, but when she turned around, she had a false bright smile plastered on her face. "Good evening," she said, her voice not faltering even when she realized that it was the daughter of Lord Sunflower walking towards her. _

_ "Good evening," a young Penny responded. Her hair was long, though that wasn't too apparent, as it was tied into an elegant up-do on top of her head, with little sunflower clips and pens weaved into it. She was dressed in what she would consider a tacky yellow gown, because the skirt of it had the pattern of it sunflowers polka-dotted all over it. However, it was what her father and mother wanted her to wear; she was their doll. She had yet to mature fully, so she barely had any curves._

_ Marionette didn't question why Penny was outside of the ballroom, since she was one of the most honorable guests; the one everyone really wanted to impress, since Lord Sunflower was watching every man that danced with his daughter, probably trying to find her the perfect suitor. It wasn't an idea Marionette was fond of, since the same was true for her when her parents hosted such occasions._

_ For a while, the girls just stood together, both propped up on the fence, staring at the flowers. Penny was the one who broke the silence. "Excuse me, dear, I do not mean to sound distasteful, but do you not find that looking at these gaudy yellow flowers makes you feel sick?" she asked in a polite, proper tone._

_ Marionette looked over at her and then back to the flower. "The color yellow that they are is quite unappealing, yes," she said after a moment of thought. She felt as though she understood how the younger girl must've felt; she wondered if life was the same, just surrounded by bright yellow flowers._

_ "My sincerest apologies for making assumptions, but you are a Malone?" Penny then asked, looking at Marionette with inquisitive eyes. _

_ "Oh, yes. My name is Marionette," the other girl replied, smiling kindly at her._

_ "I would much prefer the name Penny for myself," Penny said, knowing that Marionette probably already knew her name, since the Malones always attended the Sunflower Waltz and since it was on Penny's birthday, they always announced when she entered and how old she was. This year, she was thirteen._

_ Marionette looked down at her and then let out a small sigh. She was pretty sure that they had similar disdains for their lifestyles, but Penny's next words confirmed this._

_ "Do you ever just feel like you could run forever under the stars?" she asked, her eyes going to the sky. "Just start running for days, until you find somewhere that you can really call home?" _

_ Marionette only looked down, hiding the sadness that twinkled in her eyes. _

_ "My sincerest apologies. I can be quite the killjoy when I have my thoughts to myself," Penny said, waving a hand of dismissal. "I am not pleasant in conversations that do not involve me faking a smile."_

_ "Do you know magic?" Marionette asked in a small voice._

_ "I am studying a form of it, yes," Penny replied, looking up at Marionette with an inquisitive expression. _

_ "Then let us part ways from this manor," the blonde said, turning to Penny finally. _

_ Penny's eyes widened and she covered her mouth. Her eyes darted to the glass-door. No one seemed to even notice that they were outside. Maybe they wouldn't notice, at least not for a while, and then they would be gone. Traveling mages. "Yes, let us run," she said, her voice rising ever-so-slightly at her excitement. A memory of three mages, a tall blond with blue in his hair, a boy with fuchsia hair and a girl with bronze hair flashed in her mind. They were from a guild called… Silver Griffin if she recalled, and it was just across the river. "Let's go to a guild."_

_ "A guild?" Marionette questioned. She thought about it for a moment. It was not a bad idea. _

_ "I know of one that is particularly close. A band of mages worked for my father once," Penny said. With that, the two girls began to walk, heading away from the manor, their steps hastened. _

_ "Are you certain that the guild that you are thinking of would accept members?" Marionette asked as they walked. _

_ "The mages were quite… Noisy about the state of their guild," Penny replied. "I am certain that they will accept mages…" her eyes then dropped. "As long as they fail to recognize us…" _

_ Marionette glanced at her, but continued to walk next to her._

_ They made it to the entrance of the town of Sunflower with no opposition and they turned to each other with bright smiles on their faces. They were going to do it. They would finally be able to escape! While Marionette wondered what sort of new events awaited her in life, Penny wondered what kinds of friendships she would make at the guild. She wondered if she would be able to adopt the type of tones that the mages she had seen had._

_ When they were past the gates of Sunflower, Penny began to take her hair down, pulling the ugly little pins from her hair and letting it cascade in a mess down her back, ending at her hips. She then continued to walk, looking up at the stars._

_ "Every part of me thinks that this is the right decision," she said to Marionette, looking over at the girl to find that she was looking up at the sky as well. She found herself giggling at this._

_ "What is so amusing, dear?" Marionette asked._

_ Penny shrugged. "It is simply astounding, knowing that there was someone with the same views on our lifestyle at the waltz-and likely other social events-and I never even knew."_

_ Marionette smiled at this._

_ "I am really happy that we got to talk tonight, Marionette," Penny added with a sincere smile. _

_ "And I you, Penny," Marionette responded. Thinking back, she was certain that Penny was one of the first people that she had discussed her dislike for her lifestyle with. Sure, there was at least one other, but it felt nice, being able to be comfortable with her. "I must say, I forgot to ask what your magic actually is." _

_ "I can show you when we get further away from that dreaded village," Penny said. _

_ They walked hastily until both of them were out of breath. They couldn't even see Sunflower anymore in the distance from the direction that they traveled, but they weren't quite to the river, either. However, both of them needed to rest, so they stopped for a moment, tucking away behind the cluster of trees in the clearing._

_ "I will show you my magic now," Penny said with a grin. She then held her hand up and a magic circle appeared on the end of it. After a moment, a bit of solid white, glowing liquid seemed to come from Marionette as Penny pulled her magic out. She then molded it into liquid and dropped it, leaving a glowing liquid on the ground, though it soon dissipated. "I absorb magic and have the capability to make potions with it."_

_ "That is quite intriguing," Marionette responded, feeling the tugging at her magic after Penny used her magic. "I use Light Magic, as you can now guess," she said, smiling cheerfully at the last part of her sentence. _

_ After that, they started talking about what sorts of things they would like to see in the world, after they joined a guild. Marionette admitted that she was hoping to get stronger and felt that joining a guild would help her with that, and Penny admitted that she would just like meet lots of people and see sights that didn't necessarily involve the life of a noblewoman. Marionette agreed that seeing different sights around Fiore was something that she was looking forward to._

_ They talked for at least an hour until they decided that it was time to head to the river. They stood, dusted themselves off, and began to walk with haste once more. When they heard the sound of the rushing river, they picked up their pace and made it to the dock, not even looking at the man that ran the dock as they panted. When they looked up, his stern face made then exchange nervous glances._

_ "You two are Marionette Malone and Penelope Summer, right?" he asked with an arched brow. When the two just froze, he took that as a yes. "I have been informed to keep you here until Sunflower authorities escort you back to your families," he then said, grabbing both of their shoulders and pulling them to him._

_ "No, please, kind sir…. We were just going for an evening out in Nadeshiko," Penny tried to sound sweet and innocent as she looked up at the man._

_ "I'm not believing that," he responded. "I have been informed that Marionette has tried this kind of stunt once before and I have been informed that you are in the utmost of troubles, young Penelope." _

_ Marionette glared, but her eyes fell to the ground. She, too, would be in the same predicament, but maybe worse. Her parents were going to strengthen their prison around her even more. _

_ There was a moment of awkward silence before Penny spoke._

_ "I… I am sorry," she said, speaking to Marionette as tears filled her pale eyes. "I… I th-thought it would work…" she added, her voice cracking and shrinking as she spoke._

_ "It is fine. No need for apologies," Marionette responded. "And there is definitely no need for tears. This was a two part effort and we simply did not have time to formulate a proper plan." _

_ Penny looked up at Marionette and when she saw the soft smile on the girl's lips, she giggled again, making the man grunt in disproval. _

* * *

><p><strong>October 14<strong>**th**** or 15****th****, X791, Time unknown**

After most of the prisoners had left with Cain, Widow, and Henri's summon, the group began to exchange glances among themselves. They were all weak and tired, and the four griffins that had been rescued were also unfed, but they needed to find a way out of the Dusk Hydra base and get back to Nadeshiko. They barely even noticed that two of the prisoners had stayed behind, until one of them spoke up.

The boy who spoke up was a younger boy, with messy silver hair that covered his brows, ears and neck and fell in a layered shag, and round, dark blue eyes that looked almost black in the dim lighting. His jaw was narrow and his nose rounded and he had high cheekbones. His skin was sickly pale-though mostly from the lack of light and food since he had been captured, and he was dressed in a ragged dark red t-shirt, with worn blue jeans and red and white sneakers. He looked to be around the age of fourteen or fifteen, standing at about 5'2'' with a thin, malnourished build.

Beside him was a little girl, huddled against his arm with tears streaming down her face. Her hair midnight blue with some various shades of lighter blue streaks through it and it feel to the middle of her back, with bangs that framed her round chin. She looked like a doll, with glowing, round yellow eyes, heart-shaped lips and a button-like nose. Her skin was sickly pale and her body was curve-less and clothed in a pair of navy blue shorts and a pale green t-shirt. Her feet were bare and her clothes were ragged.

"We wanna come with you," the boy said in a determined voice. "We can fight if we have to!"

The group looked down at them and then exchanged glances.

When the girl saw that they were considering it, she spoke up. "P-please… W-we want to j-join y-your guild…" she stammered in a shaky voice.

"No," Fame started, staring down at them with cold eyes. "We're all beat up ourselves. We can't take care of kids on top of that." He punctuated his sentence by flipping his hair out of his eyes.

"I'm not a kid!" the boy instantly snapped. "I'm fifteen, you know! And if it wasn't for those stupid cuffs, I'd have my gem magic right now!"

"We really can't help you two," Julius said, siding with Fame. "Now, you need to run along before you get left behind."

"Why are you two being such jerks?!" the boy snapped. He then turned to the other members of the group. "Are none of you going to side with us?!"

"Pl-please…." The girl begged, whimpering to herself.

"I cannot help but to feel that this…" Penny couldn't even bring herself to say it. They wanted to join the guild and as a new member, she didn't even feel that it was her right to say anything, though she felt that Winter would prefer them to accept them.

"I don't think Winter would turn them down," Shiloh eventually said in a gentle tone. A part of her wanted to agree with Fame and Julius for once. Apart from maybe Mercy and Henri, none of them were really in fighting condition and it wasn't a smart idea. But at the same time, she couldn't help but to feel that Winter would punish them in the severest of ways if she found out that they turned potential guild members down, even if they were younger.

Apart from the annoyed huff from Julius and the groan from Fame, there was silence amongst the group for a moment.

"I think you're right," Sayomi said after a while. She ignored the mixed glances that she got from her teammates and walked to the front of the group and looked down at the two younger mages. "So… What are your names?" she asked in a kind voice.

"I'm Charlie!" the boy introduced himself boldly, patting his chest as he did so, grinning up at the griffins.

"I-I go by S-Sonata," the girl replied in a sheepish voice. "Th-thank you a-all, so much…"

While the annoyed Fame and Julius didn't even bother to introduce themselves, the other griffins did and then they turned to each other.

"So… Which way do you think we should go?" Sayomi asked. They needed to try and find the other griffins, even if they were injured. If they were being moved, they were probably still somewhere in the facility, at least for the time being. They also needed to meet up with Isoko and Elizabeth, though that wasn't going to be a problem.

"We need to get out of here!" Elizabeth's voice sounded from down the hall, and they looked to see two very rugged griffins half-limping, half-running towards them, leaning on each other for support. They were missing their shoes and really, a lot of Elizabeth's clothing had been destroyed in the fight, but vitals were covered.

"What happened to you two?" Sayomi asked, pulling herself from the crowd of mages and walking over to them. Her eyes were mainly on Isoko, with the grotesque red veins still covering one side of her body.

"The fight was a bit challenging," Isoko said nonchalantly.

However, Elizabeth stepped forward. "We have to run, now!" she spoke. "The other griffins have already been transferred to another base and this place is-" her voice was cut off by a loud, robotic voice that reverberated through throughout the facility.

"3 MINUTES UNTIL EMERGENCY GAS RELEASED. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." The voice announced formally, before repeating it again and then sounding an ear-shattering siren that caused most of the team to clap their hands over their ears and let out groans or cries of pain.

"WE HAVE TO GO!" Sayomi boomed, though even her loudest tone wasn't much louder than the blaring sirens.

No one questioned it. The twelve group members formed a sort of thick web of support as they ran down the hall, all of them leaning on each other-much to some of their discomforts-with Henri, Mercy and Penny at the center, holding up the net with their strength.

"YOU'LL HAVE TO TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF AS SOON AS YOU GET OUT OF THE WINDOW!" Elizabeth shouted behind her as she led them towards the room where they had fought Syllia and Jaeger.

By the time that they got to the top of the staircase, the voice announced that they had two minutes to evacuate before the emergency gas was released.

So many thoughts ran through the griffins head. What was this emergency gas? How fast would it kill them if they ran out of time before they made it out? Were the other four griffins still in the base? Why were they taking these sort of precautions? Were they really that scared of a bunch of rugged mages?

After they opened the door, they made it about half-way down the hall before Cain appeared in front of them. "THIS WAY!" he boomed, motioning for them to follow him.

"DID THE PRISONERS MAKE IT OUT?!" Shiloh shouted, her voice cracking horribly as she did so. Of all the questions that lingered in her head, she was mostly worried about her other teammates. She couldn't bear the thought of them being left behind, but at the same time, they had no options. She was also worried about the horde of people that Cain, Widow, and Henri's summon had led out of the building.

"YES! WIDOW IS WITH THEM!" Cain replied.

He led them to the end of the hall and then turned right.

"ONE MINUTE UNTIL EMERGENCY GAS RELEASE! ONE MINUTE UNTIL EMERGENCY GAS RELEASE!" The voice announced through the sirens.

"ARE WE GONNA MAKE IT?" Mercy asked as she pushed herself to keep running. She had tears in her dark eyes, though no one noticed, as she was not the focus.

All of them were breathing heavily and stumbling over each other in a mess. The look of worry and exhaust was present on each of their faces and Mercy and Dahlia had tears streaming down theirs.

"YES!" Cain shouted, as he led them down the hall to a staircase.

"30 SECONDS UNTIL EMERGENCY GAS RELEASE! 30 SECONDS UNTIL EMERGENCY GAS RELEASE!"

As they ran to the stairs and climbed up them, the voice began to count down from thirty seconds.

As they opened the door at the staircase, the voice announced that there was ten seconds left.

As they made their way out onto the moist ground, the voice counted down from ten.

The last thing they heard before Cain slammed the large, iron door of the tiny building was the voice countdown to five.

All twelve of the mages collapsed on the damp floor of what seemed to be a thick forest. The trees loomed above them, shading them from the light of the day and due to this, it was hard for them to tell what time it actually was.

"Wh-what about the prisoners?" Shiloh asked as she curled against the floor of the forest, wishing that her magic would regenerate faster. Her voice was hoarse and her eyes were sunken in from lack of nutrition, but she wasn't concerned about herself at that moment.

"Miss Widow is making haste with getting them somewhere safe. A few of them spoke of a town that nearby, once they were outside," Cain responded. He walked over to her and knelt, running his hands though her hair. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Oooh," Mercy sat up. "We need to feed them!"

Henri sat up as well. "I'll get to work on that," he said, pulling himself to his feet and stumbling a bit before starting to gather some materials for a fire from his backpack.

Shiloh forced herself to at least sit up. "Uhm, I don't know if we said this, but thanks for coming," Shiloh said, her eyes dancing between the six griffins that had rescued them.

"Yes, my sincerest of thanks," Marionette said in a soft voice as she pulled herself against a tree to sit up. She looked just as bad as Shiloh.

Penny stood and began helping Henri, but after a moment, her eyes fell, her messy bangs shading them as she spoke. "It was not a problem. But…" she reached into her potion holster and took two of her nutrition potions. She then walked over to Sonata and Charlie, who were both lying on the ground, Charlie holding Sonata like a little sister. "Take these."

Charlie sat up and took them, examining them. "What's this?" he asked, giving Penny a suspicious look.

"Consider it a vitamin," Penny explained. "It will help you."

When Shiloh's eyes fell on the potions, they became dark like Penny's. "You really had intent of returning with all eight of us…." She stated, her teeth clenching into a scowl. She couldn't shake the feeling of worry and grief for Vesta, Kai, Rylen and Ryuuga.

"Yes… Dear… My apologies," Penny mumbled, taking the vials back after Charlie and Sonata drank them.

Both of the younger mages instantly began to cough and Penny tried to fake a sympathetic smile, though her thoughts were in the clouds.

"So… Bitter," Charlie sputtered. "What the hell did you give to us?!" he then snapped, jumping to his feet and trying to stare Penny in the eyes.

Sonata just wiped the tears away from her eyes and continued to cough some more.

Soon, Mercy hopped over and handed them a bottle, which they drank from quickly.

The three mages who were standing then continued to work on getting some sort of food prepared for everyone, while the other mages tried to sit up, all finding trees to prop their backs against.

"Isoko… Are you in pain?" Sayomi asked, looking at the girl with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'll be fine…" Isoko said. It didn't necessarily hurt anymore. It was a sort of numbing feeling all over her, like the feeling she got after falling asleep on her arm or sitting on one of her legs too long. After exchanging glances with the other griffins, she decided that they weren't going anywhere for a moment, so she pulled out her gaming lacrima and began playing.

This caught Charlie's attention and he plopped down next to her, Sonata following him, and peered over her shoulder.

"Tch…" Isoko's eyes narrowed and she used her elbow to push him away from her. "Personal space…" she hissed under her breath.

Sayomi laughed lightly to herself. "It's like she's a completely different person when she's got that game," she pointed out.

"This is most certainly true," Penny commented with a small smile.

"You don't talk weird anymore," Elizabeth pointed out, her tired eyes on Penny. She hadn't talked much because she was watching the building, feeling that they were much too close to it to just relax. It wasn't like they had enough energy to go much further, though.

Penny smiled at Marionette before she said, "I can only say that I feel more at ease at this moment."

Marionette returned Penny's smile with a tiny one of her own.

After that, the smell of food filled the air as Henri and Penny fixed up a huge pot of soup while Mercy helped by handing them whatever they needed, stating that she couldn't cook at all.

"So… Wh-what is your guild like?" Sonata asked in a tiny voice, curling her knees up to her chest and smiling sheepishly. She was sure it was a good guild, even though the group of mages looked a bit odd.

"We cut up children and feed them to rabid Vulcans," Fame answered sarcastically, glaring at the sky.

While Julius snorted, the other mages of the group gave Fame disapproving glares, apart from Mercy, who giggled, and Marionette and Penny, who rolled their eyes and stuck up their noses.

Sonata stared at him for a moment in fear, leaning against Charlie, who was glaring at him.

Sayomi opened her mouth to tell them that Fame was just being a jerk, but Charlie stood and stomped over to the blond lightning mage.

"What makes you think you can be so mean to someone as sweet as Sonata? She's just a kid!" Charlie snapped, glaring down at him.

Fame looked up at him with disinterest in his eyes, flipping his hair away. "I was joking," he stated flatly.

"If you can't take some dark humor, then you should stay away from Silver Griffin," Julius added in a matter-of-fact voice, trying to push his glasses back onto his face, but poking himself in the bridge of the nose instead, since he had no glasses. This made a vein swell on his forehead, but he said nothing about it.

"I'll take you both on right now!" Charlie growled, veins swelling on his forehead as well. Deep blue magic began to surround his fists, though it was dull to the lack of energy he really had.

Fame arched a brow and scoffed. "You sure about that?" he asked, standing and staring down at the boy with dark eyes. He swayed slightly from exhaustion, but he had a cocky smirk on his face.

"Jace! Don't you beat up him!" Shiloh called, sounding like a mother scolding her child. She watched the scene with concerned eyes and furrowed brows.

"Sapphire Magic: Gauntlets!" Charlie called as his fists were surrounded by deep blue gemstone gauntlets that had spiked knuckles and spikes running up the outer forearm. He attempted to throw a punch at Fame, but the older mage somehow managed to dodge, just barely sidestepping. Charlie attempted to throw another punch, but the same thing happened.

This cycle continued for about four punches. Fame then flipped his hair out of his eyes and glared down at the boy. "I'll give you one last chance before I attack," he said in a smooth tone.

"Go ahead and hit me!" Charlie barked. "I can take it!" he said with a cocky grin.

"Tch. You annoy me, kid," Fame said. With that, he removed his right hand from his pocket and it lit up with bright blue lightning as techno music played in the field. "Blue Sound Lightning: Techno Beat!" he stated flatly as he threw a punch, which burst into bright electricity as Charlie was sent flying across the field, landing a couple of feet from Cain, who was watching the door of the building that they had exited.

The boy didn't move as his body sparked and the music slowly faded.

No one had time to scold the older mage before Julius hopped up and slammed his forehead into Fame's, his bright eyes glowing with anger. "You sparked me, you dumbass!" he hissed, his body emitting a fiery aura.

"What of it?" Fame growled back, pressing his forehead into Julius's as both of the boys seemed to sway with exhaustion.

They held eye contact for a few minutes before both of them fell to their knees, their bodies shaking and panting as exhaustion won the fight.

"Fools," Penny sighed, walking over to help Charlie up. She saw the huge bruise on his chin and shook her head while making a tsk-like noise under her breath. "How simply foolish to want to fight when you feel so weak."

"Are you okay, Charlie?" Sonata asked. She was about to stand, but when her body started shaking, Isoko used one hand to pull her back down, not taking her eyes from the screen.

"I'm fine…" Charlie breathed. He pushed past Penny after mumbling, "Thank you," under his breath and then walked over to Fame, pointing down at him. "I'll beat you, next time we fight!"

"Whatever," Fame breathed, falling against a tree, not even sparing a glance for Charlie.

"I think he'll fit right in," Sayomi said with a small laugh. While she was pretty sure Silver Griffin was mild compared to some other guilds, there were always people trying to spar when there wasn't a lot of missions and she was sure Charlie would enjoy this, while Sonata would probably be behind the bar with the passive mages.

Shiloh laughed lightly at that, though it was obvious that her mind was in other places as her eyes weren't focused on any of the group.

"I'm sure we'll find them soon," Sayomi said, knowing that the girl was probably thinking about the other griffins still.

"Naturally," Penny said as she began fixing the soup into smaller bowls. She was surprised at how much stuff Henri had thought to pack.

"Yeah… If th-they don't find their way back, first," Henri said in a tiny voice, attempting to comfort the girl.

* * *

><p>After eating, they rested for a bit more before they began to travel away from the base of Dusk Hydra. There were some conversations here and there about various things, but for the most part, all of the mages seemed to be preoccupied with finding out where they were and where they needed to go to find Nadeshiko.<p>

It was the middle of the night when they made it to a small town, with one inn that only had three rooms left. So, they divided up with Henri, Fame, Julius and Charlie in one room, Penny, Marionette, Mercy and Shiloh in one room, and Sonata, Sayomi, Isoko and Elizabeth in another.

As they walked to their rooms, they passed one or two guests that were apparently prisoners, as they instantly surprised the group by bowing to them and thanking them. While they were grateful for the recognition for the guild, all of them were still not in top shape, so they rushed to their three rooms at the end of the hall and parted ways for the time being.

The rooms that they were staying in consisted of two sets of bunk-beds with white wardrobes at the foot of each bed and a door that led to a cramped bathroom. The room was themed with orange and white, the floors being beige carpet with a bright orange and gold rug in the floor, and a darker beige wall with orange trim that was decorated with golden suns. The beds had white wooden frames, and white pillows, with fluffy orange quits with golden stitching.

However, the room was of none of their concern, as they had already been informed that there was a gender-segregated bathhouse in the back and that was their aim was cleaning up, so they threw their bags down and left hastily.

* * *

><p>It was late at night, so the eight females found that they were the only ones in the female's springs at the moment. It was a large, pond-styled spring that was surrounded by large stones, with a large wooden wall separating it from the male's spring.<p>

All of the females were sitting in the water, which covered everything but their upper shoulders and heads.

"This is heaven…" Penny sighed as she sank down further. The water smelled of honey and vanilla and she could feel her skin becoming cleaner. She felt so far away from the strong mage that she was trying to be, but at that moment, she could care less.

"Agreed," Marionette mumbled before sinking down to the same level, leaving nothing but her nose up out of the steaming water.

After more of the girls agreed, there was a moment of silence as all of them relaxed. They were still beat up, but just a few minutes in the springs made them look a thousand times better.

Shiloh broke the silence as she looked between Isoko, Penny, Elizabeth and Mercy. "Did you get to form any opinion of the guild before you left?"

"I love it!" Mercy cheered, throwing her hands up in the air and humming happily. "So many fun people and yummy food!"

"It is quite pleasing to be a member of a guild," Penny said with a small smile. "There is a quaint feeling about it that makes one wish to call it home."

"It's pretty awesome," Elizabeth said. "Though Isoko and I weren't members for long before leaving."

"I like it," Isoko said in a small voice.

"I can't wait to see it…" Sonata said, sparkles in her eyes as she saw the opinions of the other girls.

"I bet you and Cantrelle will get along great," Sayomi said with a smile. "She's another girl that's a bit younger than you."

"I hope so!" Sonata said with a sheepish smile, her cheeks turning even pinker than normal. However, her smile soon faded and she brought her hands up to press her index fingers together as she hummed nervously before asking, "Are… Are there more… Mean people like Mr. Lightning?"

Sayomi sweat-dropped at this, thinking about the rest of Fame's team. And then Viera. The sweat-dropped disappeared when she realized that they were the only ones that were really insufferable at times, though.

"They all have their reasons for the way they are, I'm sure," Shiloh said with a small smile. "All of the griffins are kind-hearted deep down, otherwise Winter wouldn't let them join."

Mercy swam over and grabbed Sonata's hands, staring her in the eyes with a bright smile on her face. "It's the most awesome place ever, I promise! You'll love it like I do!"

Sonata giggled nervously, blushing brightly at the woman. "Okay…" she said in a small voice.

"Mercy, dear," Penny started, lifting her head from the rocks and furrowing her brows at the other girl. She was going to scold her for scaring the other girl, but she instead just shook her head and turned to Marionette. "And what do you think of the guild, hun?" she asked, wondering how long the girl had actually been a member of the guild.

Marionette seemed to think for a moment. She had been listening to the conversation with a peculiar look of disinterest, but she turned to Penny with just a bit of interest in her eyes. "It is pleasing, at times," she said with a shrug. She felt that she had gotten stronger since she joined, but then when she thought about the flirty people like Bandera or Kai, or the reckless mages who destroyed things without a care, she felt annoyed.

This made Penny giggle. She knew it was hard to see everything as pleasing when you saw gold and glory every day, but for some reason, it amused her to see Marionette looking to the bright side of things.

"Oh… Happy birthday, Eli," Isoko said. She had sunken down with her eyes closed, but suddenly sat back up when the other girl's birthday crossed her mind. Her skin was finally returning to normal apart from a patch of red veins around the wound.

Instantly, everyone chimed in and Mercy leapt through the water and hugged Elizabeth, making the other girl jump in surprise. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We'll throw a party soon!"

Elizabeth slowly pushed the other girl off of her, though she was smiling ever-so-slightly as she did so. It was hard not to be at least a little cheerful with the hyper.

* * *

><p>In the male's spring, there was silence. Unlike the females, who didn't mind sitting close together, all four of the males were far apart. Fame had sunken down and was trying to ignore Charlie's death-glare, Henri seemed to be off in his own little world, and Julius and was sunken down with a swollen vein on his forehead, as he had tried many, many times to push his nonexistent glasses on his face and was constantly reminded that he couldn't see that well by his futile attempts.<p>

Eventually, Henri tried to make some sort of conversation. "D-do any of y-you read?" he stammered in a low tone.

"Nah," Charlie said with a shrug of his shoulders. He preferred to be more active in his life, and reading involved sitting still too long.

"Sheet music," Fame responded flatly.

"I do enjoy reading…" Julius said, though his eyes narrowed. "Unfortunately, I'm unable to, right now…"

"Really?" Henri said, brightening up at the fact that he could find something in common with even one of the less friendly people of the guild. "Erm…" his eyes drifted down to the water before he asked, "What k-kind do you like?"

"I have many preferences," Julius said with a shrug.

With that, they began to exchange titles that they had read and things that they had studied. Fame drifted further into the water with his eyes closed, bored with the conversation, while Charlie tried to look for something to do.

Eventually, the young boy's eyes landed on the wall. He then looked between Fame and Julius with a smirk.

Fame's eyes opened and when he followed the boy's swiveling gaze, his eyes narrowed. "Bad idea, dumbass," he mumbled after lifting his mouth out of the water. "The chicks in the guild are hella bitchy and hella strong."

"But imagine what they are doing…" Charlie said, his eyes getting sparkly. "They could be talking about us right now!" There were other more perverse images that flashed through his head, but he didn't mention them. Not that it wasn't obvious to Fame and Julius, who were both younger at one point in their lives.

"They could, but they could also kill you the moment the hear something against that wood," Julius said with a shrug.

"So boring!" Charlie grumbled. He then stood, which made both Julius's and Fame's eyes darken in annoyance, while Henri had drifted off into his own little world again.

However, the summoner snapped out of it when Charlie approached him and asked him to join him in peeping.

"Is… It not wrong to do that?" Henri asked. While his voice was shaking, it was a legitimate question. He felt that the wall would be there for a reason, and while he hadn't been to a bathhouse very many times, something like that seemed like taboo.

"Of course not! All men do it!" Charlie said with a huge grin.

"O-okay," Henri said, standing as well.

"Should we save him?" Julius asked in a low voice, his eyes on Fame.

"Not my problem," Fame mumbled, trying to flip his hair out of his eyes with little success since it was wet.

Charlie mumbled a spell that made a huge cluster of sapphires form against the wall and he then proceeded to climb it, Henri alongside him.

It took all of two seconds for both of the men to be obliterated. The annoying shouts of spells was heard throughout the evening air as they were blasted back by a mix of light and powerful water. Both of the men went flying, landing with a huge splash in the water.

"DAMMIT!" Fame and Julius hissed as they were splashed. They both acted as if they may stand, but realized that their magic wasn't suitable for water, and resulted in glaring at the other two boys as they pulled themselves from the water.

Both of them had steaming red circles on their foreheads and while Henri just looked embarrassed and ashamed, Charlie had a huge grin on his face. "I saw cleavage…" the young boy mumbled under his breath.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Hiya, guys~ I decided to end this on a lighter note, which will make the next chapter a complete emotional rollercoaster, as I plan to show some Dusk Hydra stuff, the griffins returning to the guild, some fluff and then the formation of the next team(s) for this arc. Sorry if this chapter is a little short for those who didn't read the flashback! ^^; I'm starting the next chapter soon._

_**-VALENTINE'S OVA IS A GO! IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR ANY PAIRINGS, NO MATTER HOW CRAZY, FEEL FREE TO SAY SO! THEY CAN BE CANON OR NOT! Also, on another note, even unintroduced characters will appear, as I think it would be unfair otherwise. I won't spoil anything about them, though and it will be a sort of preview to the handful of characters I haven't introduced.**_

_**CREDITS: **_

_Sonata – Dragonspirit996_

_Charlie – Baseball 22_

_**Review Responses: **_

_**Thank you guys so much as always! Lots of love from me! So sorry for the wait. Hopefully it won't happen again and I'll get the next chapter out within a week! 3 Thanks for the opinions on the Valentine's OVA!**_

_-Cat the Alien – Yep! We've finally hit plot and it will continue throughout the story! :3 I hope I can hold everyone's interest! _

_-La Maitresse' Dame – Sometimes they are longer than others. ^^; I'm so happy that so many people are looking forward to the Valentine's OVA. I'll probably start planning it very soon. I hope the flashback was to your liking! It was fun to write. :3_

_-Origm2012 – Thank you for your opinion~ I hope I don't disappoint with this arc! :P_

_-IG from the True North – I'm happy to see an old reader returning! Hope you enjoy the fic! :3_

_-Dreadburner94 – No problem~ We all get busy sometimes. X_X And thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying them. Sorry Niki hasn't appeared in a while. I promise all OCs have a role in this arc. X_X_

_-puffypuffin3 – I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter! And thank you for the opinion on the OVA. I'm surprised so many people are for it! :3 I'm open to all suggestions. And with Book 2 and the others. Past book 2 would push some canons of Fairy Tail, but I think they could be a lot of fun. I'm not too concerned with it right now. There will be many polls to come about it in the future. I'm only going to write what majority seems to want, as I don't want to waste people's time. X_X _

_-FanO'theNinja121 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! And I'm happy so many people are okay with the OVA!_

_-Saibaa – I love writing action-y scenes, haha. XD I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter!_

_-DarkHyena – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter. And I'm sure Henri would have lots of awkwardness in the OVA. XD Ah, I'll add the voice actress to my profile soon, when I find a reference video. :D_

_-AkumaXHwaorang – I'm flattered that you think I'm a good writer! ^/^ And don't mind about the reviewing thing. I understand! :3 Yeah, I struggle a lot with wondering if I'm going over the top. I read over it and if I can visual it exactly as a video, I go with it, usually. :3 I agree with unpredictability in fight scenes. I dislike one-sided fights, though they will happen, as lines of strength need to be obvious, too. I'm trying hard with my grammar, since that's the common bad review I get. Feel free to point out examples. ^^ Hopefully I can do your OCs justice when they appear! :D Thank you for the review. I actually don't see that many reviews on my actual writing. They're mostly content reviews. :U Not that I mind! I love all reviews!_

_-LightandDarkHeart – Yeah. I wonder sometimes if they break canon by how morbid they are, but at the same time, I've seen some decently morbid things in Fairy Tail, so, meh. And I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter!_

_-Vaerith – I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter and that you're looking forward to the OVA. :D_

_-FrozenBlast13 – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! Yeah, I picture Elizabeth and Isoko as sort of sisters. I'm not really sure why, but I'm glad you think it works! :3 And I'm happy you're looking forward to the OVA._

_-Barrett M107 – I promise you're characters are more than mediocre! They're really awesome. :3 I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. And sorry about Syllia. I imagined her being really unstable, but Jaeger will make at least one more appearance. :3 And we'll see about the ideas for the other griffins. I love how so many people are forming ideas. I think the next chapter will shed some light. _

_-FairyTailWolf6 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter and I like that my suspense is working. XP I've actually gotten that suggestion, about the reflection. XD_

_-Dragonspirit996 – I hope I did okay with Sonata! :3_

_-reven228 – XD I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter! And I'm so so happy that people are looking forward to the OVA. Hope I don't disappoint. _


	17. Chapter 17

**Exact date unknown, X791 **

"Master Eyren… Please, I beg of you, just let me die," Jaeger sobbed. He hadn't spoken to his master since they had moved to a different base. Eyren hadn't spoken to him at all during the move, and upon arriving at the new base, he had threw him into a prison cell and left him to his own vices, stating them that he needed to think some about his actions in regards to battling.

Jaeger had sat alone in his cell for what seemed like hours upon hours, wondering where he had went wrong and what he could have done differently to assure that his precious Syllia would still be alive. He was a broken man; he wished for nothing more than death, but nothing came. He pleaded in his mind for everything to be a dream; to wake up in bed next to the love of his life and snuggle her and kiss her, but even through his insanity, he realized that none of this was going to happen. He was a doomed, sorrowful excuse for a man.

He wasn't sure, nor did he really care, how long it had been since he had seen his master, but when the prison door opened and the elderly man walked in, the experiment didn't even bother to look at him. When his master commanded that he look at him, he begged for death.

"Think to yourself, Jaeger," Eyren spoke in a deep, harsh voice, walking over to the pile of tears and snot that was Jaeger. "Do you really think that I am so kind to just let you die and be with your lover again in whatever hell you two will find yourself in?"

Jaeger merely sobbed pitifully in response.

"Of course not!" Eyren snapped, hitting him in the stomach with his walking stick. "You and that sorry excuse for a wife of yours failed to kill two young mages, who were fairly tired, mind you. Do you realize how PATHETIC that is?! You are a DISGRACE to the hydra!"

"Please… Just kill me… If I'm such a disgrace…" Jaeger whimpered, covering his face with his hands, though tears could be seen dripping in between the crevices of his fingers.

"No…" Eyren hissed, grabbing the top of Jaeger's head and pulling his neck back so that he was made to look up at him. "You will fight with all you have. If not, your last days on this earth will be nothing more than pitiful, lonely, TORMENT!"

"Yes…. Master….." Jaeger coughed out in a hoarse voice.

* * *

><p><strong>Exact Date Unknown, X791<strong>

When Kai awoke, he was strapped to a table like before and his head felt like it was about to explode when his eyes focused on the lights in the ceiling overhead. He wanted to let out a groan, but he didn't, as he somehow remembered what situation they were in. He, Rylen, Ryuuga, and Vesta had become prisoners to Dusk Hydra and they were experimenting on them constantly. He had no idea what had become of Marionette, Shiloh, Fame and Julius.

While he wasn't certain and had no real proof other than how groggy he felt, he was pretty sure they were administering some sort of sleeping serum to them to make sure that they didn't wake up. But he was strong, and he was determined to break free and find the other griffins. He was certain that he would be able to do it if he tried.

So, let his head fall to either side and when he realized that they were actually alone in their room, though the other three griffins were all unconscious, Rylen to one side of him and Vesta and Ryuuga across the room- he began to fight, trying to pull himself out of the straps that bound him.

He struggled silently for a few more moments before he let his head fall over and he loudly whispered, "Rylen, bro…!" He paused after this and he thought that he was about to get no response, but after a moment, Rylen began to stir as well.

However, Rylen wasn't in the same condition as him. When Rylen's eye opened, it instantly began to glow purple and he was filled with nothing less than hatred. He instantly let out an almost inhuman growl and his body contorted as he tried to free himself. Hatred. The need to destroy. Unlike Kai, he was able to free himself with a couple of powerful jerks of the leather straps, coming off of the bed with a quickness.

"Hey…" Kai's brows furrowed with worry as he stared at the cyan-haired male approaching him, dressed in a simple white hospital gown, one of his arms missing. "You-" he didn't get time to finish his question as Rylen's hand slammed down on his throat, hard.

Somewhere deep in his thoughts, he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but Rylen couldn't control himself at that moment. His head hurt and the entirety of his body throbbed with every thought of darkness that surged through his brain. The thought of bathing the guild in blood, erasing everything, like Alnon had did for him.

Kai's face began to turn red from lack of oxygen, and there was fear in his eyes as he stared up at his friend, now noticing the darker veins that appeared on some parts of his face and arm. He wasn't there anymore; that much was obvious.

There was only one thing that saved him; Vesta began to stir, and this made Rylen remove his hand and look across the room at her.

The pain was unreal to Vesta. It wasn't like anything she had ever felt. She let out a loud groan and tried to move, only to find that she was strapped down like everyone else. This made her grumble, but when she went to move, she felt the pain get worse, only it shot through the rest of her body, making her chest burn. And that was when she began to lose it.

Visions of destruction, watching her guild-mates beg for mercy as she mauled them and laughed filled her mind and tears filled her eyes as she wondered why she was thinking about something like that. She tried to fight it, but it only seemed to make the pain worse, which in turn made the visions worse. "Help…" she managed to mumble out. "St-stella… Please… Grandma…. A-anyone…"

Kai's adrenaline kicked in and he broke free finally and stood up. "Ves... You gotta fight it!" he shouted, attempting to run over to her. However, he found himself shoulder-charged by Rylen, tumbling to the ground weakly. He rolled over and found himself staring into Rylen's eerily purple eye. "What the hell is wrong with you, bro?" he asked, struggling under him. He needed to get Vesta to snap out of it, that way he would have someone sane with him. The adrenaline was still pumping through him, but he refused to fight a friend.

Fight it. Right. She was strong. Whatever the hell was wrong with her, she could kick its ass. So, her teeth sunk into her bottom lip and she closed her eyes. Think happy thoughts of the guild. Joining the guild, meeting Fame and then Julius soon after, the guild in disrepair at her hands-NO-,working with them and training with them, growing up with them and becoming S-class mages, teasing Ryuuga for being the only one on their team that wasn't an S-class, the blood that stained her hands after killing all-NO- all of the missions she'd been on, Winter scolding her about the team she'd chosen, Stella teasing her about possibly having a crush on one of her teammates since they were all guys, though that wasn't true…

She tried her hardest to win the battle in her head, and when she heard Rylen's next words, she felt pain in her even more.

"I…" Rylen growled out. He was scowling and breathing heavily, but deep in his head, he felt so lost… So alone… He didn't want to do any of this, but it seemed like the only thing that he was capable of doing. "….Don't know…" he continued to hiss out.

Kai began to grin when the purple faded from his eyes. "It's cool, just fight it!" he said. His head was starting to hurt worse and when he looked around, he saw that a net of dark purple veins was forming on the fingers of his right hand, but he ignored it, fighting the pain. Obviously, the source of pain was supposed to do something more than what it was doing to him, but he could fight it.

Rylen managed to roll off of Kai and then grab his forehead. "Why…?" he mumbled under his breath as his eyes began to flash with purple. He thought about fun it would be to just watch someone who had thought they could trust him bleed. To watch them beg for him to return to who he used to be. To make them suffer from all that they had done to him.

Vesta was in the same condition. Though it was so unlike her, she couldn't fight the tears of anger and pain that filled in her eyes, which flashed solid purple as the thoughts from whatever they had been doing to her won the battle. She wished at that moment that she could hug Stella or Winter and have them tell her that she would be okay and that she would make it through, but she couldn't do it. She just wanted to kill everything around her and the thoughts of hugging her Exceed and grandma turned to thoughts of taking them and squeezing the life out of their throats.

At that moment, when Kai thought he was at least starting to get things under control and starting to plot a way out of the facility, Ryuuga's eyes, one of them solid purple while the other was natural, shot open and he let out a fierce growl of pain.

So much violence. So much bloodshed. He saw faces that he could no longer even recognize due to their pulverized condition. This was all that was in his mind, yet somehow, he retained some fraction of who he was and was able to wonder what in the hell could cause so much pain, and why he would think about doing these things. However, he found himself focusing too much on the blood. Oh, how he wanted to see the blood.

All at once, the silver-haired man freed himself from his bindings and he was up, his other eye turning solid purple as he huffed. However, his magic was bound by an unknown source and while he thought about requiping, he could not.

"Ryu…" Vesta grumbled. She anchored herself to him; to the thought of how amusingly mean he was when they first met and how she just forced him into the group of hoodlums. Hoodlums. That was a word she longed to hear at that moment. It made her smile. "…Fight it… Beef-head," she mumbled, remembering her childish nickname for him, back when she used to nickname her three friends.

However, Ryuuga had lost himself, at least for the time, and Vesta found herself letting out a cry of surprise when Ryuuga snatched her off of the bed, breaking her straps and holding her in the air by her neck.

All she could think about was what had been done to them. They had been changed somehow, and it was both emotionally and physically destructive.

"Dammit!" Kai hissed under his breath, the desperation coating his speech. He hopped to his feet and wrapped his arms under Ryuuga's shoulders, trying to pull him back away from Vesta. "Let her go, man! Be strong!" he tried to convince him, though the last part was aimed towards himself just as much as Ryuuga.

Ryuuga only growled at him in response, and released one of his hands from Vesta only to elbow Kai in the abdomen as hard as he could. He then huffed and threw Vesta to the ground, grinning maliciously as her body rolled across the silvery linoleum floor, crashing into a table of various medical equipment.

Kai doubled over and fell to his knees, wondering how Ryuuga had managed to hit him so hard. "Please…" he wheezed out. They were all losing it. The pain was driving them to insanity; to the urge to kill. They were going to kill each other at this rate, before they could even escape.

Vesta rolled over on her side and that was when she was gone. The passive anger that she felt at Ryuuga, even though she tried to fight it because she knew that he wouldn't actually do something like this, took her over and the thoughts of gore filled her mind, causing her eyes to begin to glow purple.

Kai was about to get up when he saw Vesta and Rylen struggling to their feet, both of their eyes glowing purple, but the door busted open and a scientist walked in with a tranquilizer gun in his hand. In four shots, all of the griffins were out cold.

* * *

><p><strong>October 18<strong>**th****, X791, 11am**

"Sooo prettyyy….." Nekane purred as she peered into the window of a clothing boutique, her eyes on a cute, frilly pink dress with a huge ribbon on the front. She was dressed up-in her opinion today. She had on a white t-shirt styled, button-up blouse with a huge, pastel green ribbon on the chest and green lace on the ends of the sleeves and shirt, a pleated dark green skirt with white trim that fell to the middle of her thighs, white stockings, and emerald colored flats with pastel green ribbons on them. There was a large white ribbon on either side of her head above her ears and a cute dark green ribbon in her single braid. There was now a scar on her cheek from the previous mission.

Bandera was walking beside her as they walked through the shopping district of Nadeshiko, a subtle smile on his face. He was dressed down from his usual waiter outfit and was actually surprised to see Nekane wear something other than her sundress. He actually wondered about her decision to dress up, since he had told her nothing of their plans.

"Vaerith told me to dress nice because we were going out!" Nekane said, turning to him with a bright smile and giggling. "He said it would make you happy!"

Bandera blushed at this, but then his brows furrowed. "When did you talk to Vaerith?" He knew that Vaerith knew of his decision, but also wondered how much he had told her, with his pervy ways.

"I went to the guild hall really early this morning because I couldn't sleep," Nekane explained with a grin.

"Oh," Bandera nodded. He wondered if it was because she was excited or something, but didn't question it. The previous day, he had asked if she would like to go out with him on the town for a day so that they could spend some time together. This was of course after Vaerith and Tad convinced him that he needed to just get the confession over with if he couldn't stop thinking about the green haired girl. He wondered if it was too soon. He hadn't known her long at all and she would probably just reject him. He needed to take a chance, though.

Nekane would comment on something every now and then, but when Bandera asked to go in the shop, she would shake her head and say that she liked to window shop and be in the sunlight. She was so giddy and happy. It made Bandera even more nervous about asking her out, like officially, for some reason.

"Bandera," he was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Nekane's voice. He looked over to see that she wasn't walking beside him. He then looked in front of him to find himself staring into her pink eyes. She then poked him on the tip of the nose with her own nose, saying, "Boop," as she did so when she realized she had his attention.

Bandera blushed vividly, withdrawing his head and looking down at her. He gave her a look of inquiry.

"You seemed really out of it," she said with a small giggle. She then fell back in-step with him and brought one finger up to her chin. "Miss Cecil said you could garden…"

"Yeah," Bandera responded, arching a brow. Did she talk about him when he wasn't around?

"How do you do it?!" she asked a bit excitedly, clinging to his shoulder as she stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Erm," Bandera sweat-dropped. He did recall a lot of dead plants outside of Nekane's house and that was definitely something that had always confused him. Did she try gardening or something? "Uhm, you just water them and take care of them," he responded lamely, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hmmm…." Nekane partially pouted, considering his advice. "Is it possible to give them too much water?" she asked, her brows furrowing like she was doing some kind of major investigation.

"Uhm, yeah," Bandera responded, chuckling at her. The way she looked so serious about her questions, but the little green lock of hair that flipped upward on top of her head bounced when she spoke, so it made her seem comical.

"That must be it!" she said, slamming her fist into her other palm, a smirk of triumph on her face. "I just pour lots of water until the pot is filled to the brim!"

Bandera sweat-dropped even more at this, laughing lightly still.

When they made it to the townsquare, he huffed and turned to her, blushing brightly. "Nekane… I wanted to ask you something today…"

"Okay," Nekane said, looking up at him and tilting her head in a curious manner. She could read so many colors in his aura; mostly happiness, affection and anxiety. It made a pretty mix of pinks, oranges and blue, like a sunset.

"I was wondering…" Bandera scratched the back of his head, his face looking like a beet. "If you would… G-go steady w-with me…?"

There was silence.

When Bandera looked over to her, his eyes widened. Her eyes were on the ground and her shoulders were suddenly stiff. Yep. He had overstepped his boundaries. He was an idiot. "I mean…"

"You don't actually like me," Nekane said in a perfectly steady, soft voice, looking up at him with glossy eyes. Before he could question her, she added, "You only like my magic…"

"…."

"What are you talking about?" Bandera asked after a moment of silence. "I don't fall for people because of their magic. I'm not that kinda guy."

"No… I know you're not," Nekane said, one tear slipping out of the corner of her eye and rolling down her cheek. "But my magic is different… I like people to be happy and I use my magic without thinking about it. It's addictive."

"I'm not in love with your magic," Bandera reiterated, his brows furrowing. Why would she think that? Why was she crying?

"I know it's true," Nekane insisted, forcing a smile. She then hugged him, surprising and confusing him more as she pressed her forehead against his shoulder. "I really like you, though. I've never met someone as warm as you. Your aura reminds me of spring and summer and I'm always at peace around you."

"Then why are you rejecting me?" Bandera asked, refusing to hug her back until he got his point through to her.

"Because…" Nekane stepped away. "I… I don't make friends. I've been alone for years, because my magic… Only leads to false friendships," she said after a while, pausing every-so-often to think of how to word her sentences. She was scared that something like this would come. That's precisely why she didn't want to join a guild.

"What are you talking about?" Bandera asked. "You don't have false friendships. You're just likeable," he insisted.

"No..." Nekane shook her head. "My momma even told me that I had a magic that was destined for loneliness."

"So?" Bandera replied. When Nekane flinched, he realized that he overstepped his boundaries again and he stepped back. "I'm sure whatever you've been told is wrong. Have you ever asked anyone else about this?"

"No… I've been alone in my cottage for a really long time," Nekane said with a small laugh. She didn't like where the aura of the situation was going. She just wanted to go back to being lighter and having fun.

"What about Winter?"

"Ms. Winter is nice to everyone," Nekane insisted.

"And what about the rest of our team?"

"I'm sure it's only 'cause of my magic, too."

Bandera felt like his head was about to explode. She was hard-headed and whoever had convinced her that it was just her magic that people liked was an idiot, to say the least. His eyes dropped to the ground and he let out a sigh. "Is there any way that I could make you think otherwise?"

"Just fall in love with someone else," Nekane said in an earnest voice, her cheerful tone shining through. "I'm happy just being around you, Bandera."

Bandera let out a small sigh. He didn't want that answer. But then again, he was used to rejection, right? He didn't understand why he tried. On top of that, he wanted to know how Nekane really felt about him, but he was scared to ask. The urge to ask repeated over and over again in his head, though.

Nekane could feel the question running through his head, just through his aura, which had darkened a lot after her words. She felt horrible. So, with that, she let out a small sigh and hugged herself tight before saying, "Bandera, I… Like you a lot… A lot a lot," she said with a small smile, blushing lightly as she spoke.

Bandera lifted his head and arched a brow at her. "Then… Why?" he asked.

Nekane only shrugged her shoulders.

Two times he had overstepped his boundaries. Why not go for a third, since he was pretty sure he couldn't get any more rejected anymore? So, he took a step forward and wrapped an arm around the small of Nekane's back before pulling her close. He then used her other hand to tilt her chin up so that their eyes made contact.

Nekane opened her mouth to question what he was doing, but quickly stiffened when he pressed his lips against her lips passionately. She could feel his aura burst with pink colors that were warmer than anything she had ever felt. She felt herself leaning into his kiss, returning it timidly with her own trembling kiss, wanting more of the aura, even though she felt like she was doing him wrong.

Bandera kissed her again when he felt her lips moving, moving his hand up her back to hold her shoulders as he leaned into their kiss, his face burning. He could hear his heartbeat in his head as he shared his first kiss with the aura mage, surprised when she returned the kiss. He broke away after a few more seconds and pressed his forehead into hers, scared about what she was going to say now.

His eyes widened when she giggled, though.

"Your lips are sparkly like mine, now," she said, grinning at the bit of lip gloss that was now on Bandera's lips.

"Eh?" Bandera blinked at how lighthearted her reaction was. When she giggled again, he used his wrist to swipe at his mouth, looking down to see sparkles all over his wrist now. He then chuckled, the tension in his body breaking. He then placed his hand on top of her head and grinned down at her. "You're adorable, Nekane."

Nekane giggled and placed her hands over the hand that was on top of her head. She then poked her lips out, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I… Guess I can say yes, if you're sure."

"Really?" Bandera's face lit up with joy as he stared down at her. "That's… I'm so happy…" he said, not able to think of the right words. He pulled her into a tight hug after that.

"So warm…" Nekane mumbled to herself happily.

* * *

><p><strong>October 20<strong>**th****, early morning,**

The sun was just starting to rise and sparkle over the purple roof of the guild. Team Crystal, along with the four griffins that they had rescued and the two potential guild mates arrived and they looked decent, surprisingly. It had taken them longer to make it down to the mountains with their injuries, but they decided that it was better to head back to the guild and report to Winter as opposed to trying to chase down the other four missing griffins without any leads.

When they entered the guild, Winter, Cantrelle and Cecil were the only ones present, since it was a bit too early for even the early bird mages to be awake.

When Winter saw Fame, Julius, Shiloh and Marionette, she ran to them with tears in her eyes. "Oh… They found you…" she breathed, as she first pulled Shiloh and Marionette into tight hugs, as the two women were shorter and easier for the elderly woman to get to. She then walked over and after glaring at Fame and Julius, letting them know that she was getting her hug one way or another, and then pulled them down, the two tall men having to practically double over to hug her.

However, when she stepped back, her eyes scanned the crowd… "And where…" her voice faded and she stepped back even further, not wanting to ask the question.

Fame was the one to speak up, surprisingly. "They'll be fine, old lady," he said, flipping his hair out of his eyes. "Those bastards took them, though."

After poking the bridge of his nose where his glasses would rest and scowling, Julius chimed in. "I can only assume that such strong mages will break free of their clutches, if we do not find them first."

"Yeah, I'm sure they will be fine, Miss Winter," Shiloh agreed.

Winter's eyes fell to the ground and she was silent for a moment, trying to find it in her to believe her mages. After a moment of silence, she looked up, remembering what Crystal had told her about not approaching this situation maturely. "You all are right," she said with a determined sparkle in her eyes. She then looked around and her eyes fell on Sonata and Charlie, who were standing together, their eyes repeatedly scanning the guild hall.

"And who are you two cuties?" she asked, a bright smile on her face.

"Hey!" A vein swelled on Charlie's forehead. "I'm not cute!" he protested.

Winter chuckled at this. "You remind me of those hoodlums right there when they were younger," she said, looking towards Fame and Julius, who had already taken their seats at a table, trying to rest some after walking for days.

"Tch," Fame scoffed, flipping his hair out of his eyes. "Like hell. I was never a dumbass like him."

"I concur," Julius said with a glare.

This made Winter laugh even more. She then turned to Sonata, who was partially hidden behind Charlie. "You remind me of Cantrelle…. What is your name?"

"S-Sonata… And this is… Charlie," Sonata stammered, blushing vividly. Her eyes went past Winter and landed on Cantrelle, who was making her way over after hearing her name.

"Hi! I'm Cantrelle!" the younger girl said. She stood a few inches shorter than Dahlia, but they had similar, small girl builds.

"Hi…" Sonata said, blushing brightly.

"They wanna join the guild," Sayomi explained, smiling down at the two younger girls as they interacted and then looking to Charlie, who seemed to be pouting about being called cute.

"Oh… Magnificent," Winter marveled. "Where… Did you find them?" she asked, uncertain if it was okay to ask the question. Not that she cared; they were too cute to deny.

"They were prisoners," Sayomi explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "We released a bunch of prisoners and these two wanted to join up."

"And do you two use magic?" Winter asked.

"Yep!" Charlie said with a grin. He then held out his hand and let a sapphire shard form in it. "I use Sapphire Magic!"

"I… I'm trying to learn S-Song magic," Sonata admitted.

"Really?" Cantrelle's eyes widened. "Me, too!"

Sonata's face brightened with a shy smile. "M-maybe we can practice together…" she suggested.

"Yeah!" Cantrelle beamed.

Winter chuckled and then turned to the griffins with serious faces. "You all need rest, but I need Team Crystal to come to my office to discuss the mission."

* * *

><p>After they discussed the mission-with Shiloh, Fame, Marionette and Julius disclosing the information that they remembered from Alnon to Winter, all of the mages apart from Shiloh parted ways, returning to their homes. Cecil and Cantrelle went out to help Charlie and Sonata move into the dorms, so Winter and Shiloh were left alone for a few moments.<p>

"Dear… You need to rest, too," Winter said, standing behind Shiloh and running her fingers through Shiloh's brown locks.

"I… Probably won't be able to sleep anyway," Shiloh said with a small smile. It was hard to shake the feeling that something really bad was happening to the other four griffins and she felt sick. As much as she hated to admit it, she didn't have a lot of people that she was close to anymore; Fame and Fortune both drifted away from her, and she had become close to Rylen, but now he was gone and she felt so helpless. She felt like Rylen would be doing more if she had been taken instead of him. And she was worried about the others, too, even though she knew they were strong.

"Oh… I know… It hurts, but you need to stay in shape and sleep is part of that," Winter cooed.

Shiloh nodded in response, but she still didn't leave the guild hall and it wasn't much later that mages began pouring in. When some of them noticed Shiloh, they began to question if everyone was okay. Winter refused to answer questions until a large group of mages was in the guild hall.

"Okay," she stood in front of the bar, raising her voice and making everyone quiet down. "Team Crystal did a very valiant deed, but unfortunately, only four of the eight mages were rescued in this mission!"

Everyone began to shift and exchange glances and words, but Winter continued to talk, making them quiet down.

"This means that we now need to set up teams to search for leads and rescue the other four griffins, and figure out what Dusk Hydra is up to," Winter said. "I know that the members of this guild most likely have darkness in their hearts, so I was decided that two teams would be best." She didn't want a bunch of small teams, because if they got ambushed by a lot of people, they wouldn't win.

"And for those two teams, I want you to spend a couple of days training, administered by myself and two of my S-class mages," Winter continued, referring to Fame and Julius, who hadn't even learned that they would be training people. "I want you all to think hard about this. There will be one team of four and one team of five."

"But… Miss Winter…" Shiloh interjected as soon as she counted the mages in the guild. There were ten mages, including herself. She realized that Winter probably wasn't counting her.

"Shiloh, dear, you need rest," Winter spoke sternly.

"But…" Shiloh's eyes drop to the ground and she didn't have time to say anything else before Winter spoke again.

"So think hard on your teams," Winter said. "We're a family, but personalities clash, even within a family."

Viera's eyes shifted from Ephriam to Fawn at their table. "We totes need another member," she said.

"I am completely indifferent," Ephraim said, sitting back in his chair and looking around at the mages, who were now exchanging glances and talking.

"I don't mind, either," Fawn said cheerfully with a small smile on her face. She was really worried that no one would want to deal with Viera, though she didn't say it, of course.

Niki instantly hopped on the opportunity for a mission, a cocky grin on her face as she stood. "Daze! Let's find teammates," she said, grinning down at the dozing girl with a straw-hat atop her head.

"I'll, like, be with you," Anita said. She was sitting at the table with them, and it seemed better than ending up on a team with someone as insufferable as Viera.

"Okay!" Niki said, shooting Anita a thumbs-up. She then scanned the area and her eyes landed on Dariel and Varis, who were both sitting back at their own table, watching as two teams were formed. They were usually fairly quiet, and Niki being Niki, loved to drag along stand-offish people. So, she walked over to them and slammed her palms into the table, making both of them jump in surprise.

"Was that… Necessary?" Dariel asked, sarcasm in his voice as he stared up at Niki with wary eyes.

"Hello," Varis nodded in greeting. He had been introduced to most of the guild members, apart from the four returning ones by this point.

"Join us and we'll make the most awesome team this guild has ever seen!" Niki said, sounding happily persuasive. When Dariel and Varis only stared up at her, she held out her hand in a welcoming manner. "How 'bout it?"

"Sure…" Dariel said with a small shrug after looking to Varis. "You'll get to see what our guild's about, I guess, finally."

Varis nodded. "Nice," he said with a small quirk of his lips. He had been itching to go on more missions with the guild members, but most of them had been busy before the missions were taken down. Now, he would really get to see what Silver Griffin was about, finally.

With that, they moved over to the table with Anita and Daze. "Heyo," Anita greeted with a wave of her hand, while Daze only held up a couple of fingers as a wave, not speaking.

Ella, who had been sitting on her own, reading, stood and looked around, noticing that one table was already five members. So, she approached Viera and her team. "Would you mind if I join you three?" she asked in a serious tone.

"Of course not," Fawn said cheerfully, wanting to be the voice of the group before Viera flirted with her or Ephraim made some kind of unappealing remark.

With that, Ella sat down, but before they could talk, Shiloh walked over to them and sat down. "Mind if I join, too?"

"Didn't Winter-?" Fawn was about to ask about Winter's words, but she was interrupted by Viera.

"Damn!" Viera started, a huge smirk on her face. "We got two hotties with us," she flirted, winking at Shiloh, since Ella didn't make eye contact with her, immediately going back to reading her book.

Shiloh laughed lightly, sweat-dropping. She pulled her jacket closer to her when she saw Viera's eyes dropping lower than her face and averted her gaze. Oh, Cain was going to destroy Viera if he saw that.

Fawn elbowed Viera for staring at inappropriate places, to which Viera replied, "What? Everyone loves boobs and I totes don't see you showin' off whatcha' got, babe."

Fawn blushed vividly, folded her arms across her chest, averted her gaze and pouted at Viera's words.

Ephraim let out a sigh. "I totally foresee this being a grand journey that will go down in histories," he droned on.

"I think it will be okay," Ella said, patting his back and not completely getting his sarcasm.

Ephraim only gave her an annoyed look in response.

"Heh," Viera smirked at Ephraim. "Still not getting' your weird ass speech through to people," she said.

"Bite me," Ephraim said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay," Viera said with a grin.

When the tall woman actually began to move towards him, Ephraim held up his hand. "Not really," he said, leaning away from her.

Winter saw Shiloh sitting with the group and she shook her head, but didn't scold her, knowing that she wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"Nice job… Now…" Winter was wondering what to do now. She had never really organized mages very often. If they wanted to be trained by her, they just needed to ask and they were always allowed to choose teams. "We'll start training and then decide where to send each team when my two mages get done resting."

* * *

><p>It had been quite a few hours since Team Crystal returned and after an hour of waiting in the guild, each of the two teams talking excitedly, Fame was the first to walk in, since he lived closer and he flipped his hair out of his eyes and furrowed his brows when everyone looked at him expectantly. Nikko was in his hoodie, having been reunited recently. Stella had decided to continue to stay with Winter for now.<p>

"Hi…" he mumbled in an annoyed fashion.

"Come here, hoodlum," Winter motioned, making Fame freeze, wondering what the hell he had done wrong now.

However, he walked up to the bar to Winter, who spun him around to look at both of the tables. "You're going to be training one of these team," she said.

Before Fame could protest, Julius walked in, now dressed normally, with his glasses finally back on his face.

Winter called him up and repeated her words.

Julius got out the protest first. "What the hell makes me obligated to train people?" he asked in annoyance.

"Yeah, seriously!" Fame chimed in.

A vein swelled on Winter's head and she whacked both of them on the head with her walking stick, making them both withdraw and hold their foreheads, since Winter couldn't reach the top of their heads. "You're gonna train these mages! I'm too old and my sister is too crotchety!"

"OW!" Fame groaned.

Julius only snarled at her.

"Now, pick a team to train," Winter said, grabbing their arms and spinning them around to face the two tables of mages.

"I pick this one," Julius said after a moment, walking over to Niki's table, just to spite Fame when he saw Shiloh at the other table. If he couldn't wreak havoc any other way, he would at least piss Fame off.

Many veins swelled on Fame's head, and his hands balled into fists. He stared angrily at the back of Julius's head as he walked towards his team. "Tch…" he growled, not moving a muscle.

"Go!" Winter said, shoving him forward with her walking cane.

"Greetings," Julius spoke in harsh tone to his team as he stared down at them.

They all greeted him in their own ways.

"Hell yeah," Niki said with a grin. "We get to fight with an S-class mage!"

Julius pushed his glasses up and the light reflected off of them so that his eyes couldn't be seen as he spoke. "Be prepared for the worst training sessions of your life, courtesy of your guild master," he said in a deep, growly voice, a scowl on his face.

"Yeah, whatever," Anita said, not buying into his intimidating act.

Niki just looked excited while Daze slept and Varis and Dariel watched him with curious expressions.

Fame stared down at the table, tucking his hands into his pocket. "'Sup," he said with a small nod.

Viera instantly stood and pressed her body up against him. "I could totes help you unwind, cutie," she said, noting how his shoulders were stiff even though he was trying to look relaxed.

Fame stepped back, narrowing his eyes at her. "Erm… Comin' on a lil too strong, aren't you?" he asked with a flip of his hair. Normally, he didn't mind being flirted with, but he was in a pissy mood, and he got childish and bitchy when his mood was bad.

"Yeah, but someone as adorbes as you should like it," Viera said with a wink, leaning against him even more, a devious smirk on her face.

"Viera," Fawn huffed, standing. "Can't you stop flirting for a few minutes?" she asked in a stern, motherly tone.

The motherly tone that Fawn took on made Shiloh smile to herself. She reminded her of herself when she was scolding her siblings.

Viera turned to her. "Oh, you jealous, babe?" she asked with the same, flirtatious smirk as she sunk down into her seat.

Fawn rolled her eyes, though she was blushing like mad. "Of course not!" she insisted.

"Bundle of joy…" Ephraim reminded himself.

Fame watched the interactions and then shrugged it off. "Let's get this over with," he said, heading for the door.

Winter stopped him. "I want you guys to spend two whole days together as a team, wherever the S-class mages suggests! And not in the same place, either!"

Fame had his hand on the door and his eye twitched violently for a good thirty seconds before his eyes darkened.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, that made Shiloh worry a bit about him, before he went outside, holding the door open for his team before exiting.

"One moment. Your lovely instructor needs a break," Fame said once the door shut behind them, speaking in a fake announcer accent. With that, he walked over to the wall of the guild hall and punched it, hard. "VILE OLD LADY!" he snapped, glaring at the wall.

"Uhm…" Ella watched him with a bit of concern in his eyes.

"He's just getting some anger out of his system," Shiloh said.

"Makin' me do her dirty work. Just 'cuz I made it to S-class doesn't mean I gotta train people. People can train themselves, tch," he ranted. Really, though he would never say it, he was nervous. Not because of people, but because he honestly had zero idea how to train people. Rylen was always the one to train people, since he was the first S-class, and he didn't lack social skills, not that Fame would admit that, either.

With that, he walked back over to the group and flipped his hair. "We meet here in thirty minutes. Any objections?" he asked in an emotionless voice.

When everyone agreed to the time, they parted ways.

* * *

><p>After meeting up, Fame began to walk south, immediately jumping on the path that would eventually lead to Lotus. Apart from some idle chat between Ella and Shiloh and then Viera and her team, it was quiet. Fame didn't speak to them, only led the way. Nikko was sleeping peacefully in his hood.<p>

"Shouldn'tcha lecturin' us, oh great S-class?" Viera asked, catching up to him and slinging an arm around his shoulder, looking him in the eye.

"Uhm," Fame looked up to the sky. "Don't fuck up. Don't fuck each other up too much, don't be dumbasses, and give the enemy team hell?" he said, flipping his hair out of his face.

"Sounds awesome to me!" Viera said with a grin. While most people would find Fame's personality insufferable, Viera and he probably had some capacity to get along, the best way "hoodlums" could get along.

"Sounds almost like something Viera herself would say," Fawn pointed out to the rest of the group with a small laugh.

"Where are we going?" Shiloh asked, noticing that they were heading towards their hometown of Lotus.

"My parents' cabin," Fame said with a shrug.

"Ooooohhhh…. That place was so much fun when we were kids," Shiloh commented, smiling at him.

"Shut up," Fame snapped, his shoulders tensing as best as they could with the weight of Viera's arm on it.

"You're so mean," Shiloh said, glaring at him.

* * *

><p>Fame led them out to a path that was in between Nadeshiko and Lotus. The path led them into the middle of a forest and by sunset, they were at a decently sized log cabin with a pond in the back of it and a large clearing in front of it.<p>

"Destroy the house and I destroy your face," Fame said as they walked up onto the porch. His mom would destroy him if she found the cabin destroyed, as it was her pride and joy. He pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, which led them into a cozy livingroom.

The room was only lit by sunlight. There was a flannel red and white sectional sofa in the middle, forming a three-walled square around a fireplace, with a log coffee table in the middle of it. There was a bowl of potpourri on the center of the table, which made the cabin smell of vanilla and plums. There was a bookshelf on the wall west of the entrance, packed with books. Across the door, on the north wall, there was a staircase and then a decorative dresser with a mosaic quilt over it, and on the quilt were a few framed photos. On the wall east of the door, there was a recliner and a little end-table with a simple brown lamp on it, as well as a doorway that led to a yellow and green colored, homely kitchen. All of the furniture was either logs or red and white plaid.

"The rooms are upstairs," Fame said. "There are three bedrooms, so I guess Ephraim can room with me," he added.

"Oh, joy," Ephraim said sarcastically.

"I guess we'll room together," Shiloh said to Ella, smiling gently down at her.

"Okay," Ella agreed.

"That means I totes get to see you naked, right?" Viera asked, turning to Fawn.

Fawn's face turned beet red. "Of course not!" she snapped.

"There's a bathroom at each end of the hall and three doors," Fame continued to explain. He then ran up the stairs with the others following him. They all claimed the simple, hotel styled rooms and then Fame waited for them outside.

When they were all out, he stood there for a good ten minutes without saying anything.

"Oh… So our 'training' involves just sitting like bumps on logs, huh," Ephraim mumbled. "I would much rather be sitting back and relaxing or something as opposed to just standing around like posts."

"Tch," Fame flipped his hair of his eyes. "I'm thinking," he said. He really had zero idea how to do this. Couldn't Winter at least give him a list or something? GAH!

"Jace… Do you need help with this…?" Shiloh asked in a soft tone. She could see an odd tenseness in his shoulders that she wasn't used to seeing in him. His brows were also furrowed in his eyes darkened. She was more than willing to help him come up with some ideas.

"No!" Fame instantly snapped. Damn, wrong answer. He did, but he could do it. It was like a test. But he passed his test years ago! Stupid Winter. After a moment, an idea came to him and he smirked. "I wanna fight you all one on one to see your strength, first," he said, hopping back to get distance between himself and the group.

"A'ight!" Viera instantly stepped forward with a smirk.

"Step back, Viera," Fame said, flipping his hair. "I'm starting with weaker people first and confidence is strength."

Shiloh had a feeling he was going to pick her, and she was prepared, but she was surprised when he didn't.

"Ephraim or Fawn, choose who'll go first," Fame said.

"That's offensive," Ephraim mumbled under his breath. "Anyway, ladies first, my dear," he said, pushing Fawn forward.

Fawn stared at Fame with wary eyes. "Isn't it unfair that we have to fight an S-class one on one?" she asked.

"And that's why you're weak!" Fame called after scoffing. "Viera was willing to fight me regardless of my title. And I bet Shiloh would, too."

Shiloh wondered if she should take that as a compliment, so she looked to Viera, who had a huge grin on her face.

"What are you gonna do if you have to fight the guild master and his lackeys?" Fame continued to ask. "Are you gonna say, 'Oh, it's unfair for me to fight the guild master'? What if you ain't got your team? What if you gotta face that bastard alone?"

Fawn's brows furrowed at this. She hadn't thought about being separated, but he was right. "Then I'll fight him," she answered.

"And you'll lose, because even behind that little outgoing façade, I see weakness! I see nerves that you try to hide!" Fame called.

Fawn glared at him, finally snapping. "What do you mean?! I'm not scared of you!"

"No, but you're scared of this mission, because my team and Rylen's team lost," Fame said, flipping his hair. "And you're scared the same thing will happen to Viera and Ephraim! What will you do if your team gets taken to be hydra's lab rat? What if they don't come back?"

Fawn stepped back, tears in her eyes at his questions. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she snapped, trying to fight the tears.

Viera stepped forward, but Fame held up a hand to signal her to stop. "I want you to get mad! I want all of you to want to kill me! Feel hatred!" he called. "If you can't let your hatred fuel you, then you'll lose!"

Fawn glared at him through her tears.

"Give me evil glances all you want! That doesn't hurt me!" Fame said, holding his arms out as if to show that he wasn't hurt. In a flash, he was in front of her, lifting her up by her throat. "Do you think a simple glare can prevent your death?" he asked in a dark tone.

Fawn couldn't breathe, so she only continued to glare.

"JACE!" Shiloh snapped. "Stop!"

"Make me!" Fame snapped back. "Let your anger flow and destroy me! Anyone who wants to!"

Viera moved first, her left arm bursting into a giant tree-like limb. She charged at him. "LET HER GO!" she growled as she slammed into him, causing him to drop Fawn and go skidding across the field. She then grabbed him and lifted him up by his throat, the branches of her arm wrapping around his neck. "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?"

Fawn rubbed her neck and returned to the group.

"Is… Is this the best way to train us…?" Ella asked.

Shiloh was watching with worried eyes. She knew what he was doing. He was breeding hate, so that Dusk Hydra wouldn't exploit emotions, as they had Rylen. He was getting rid of their emotions.

Fame smirked at Viera and in an instant, electricity burst from all parts of his body as dramatic piano music played throughout the field. Viera was blasted back, a lot of the smaller branches breaking off from her arm, though they instantly regrew.

She landed on her feet a few feet from Fame, scowling at him. "BASTARD! I will destroy you!" she growled. She then lunged again, the branches on her arm extending as she tried to stab at him with them.

Fame leapt to dodge, landing on his feet a good distance from her. "This is how you all need to act! You can't let your emotions make you weak!" he called. He then dodged Viera again, grimacing when her arm slammed into the ground and uprooted a patch of grass. His mom was gonna kick his ass. He made a not to avoid her for about a month.

He let Viera let out her anger, dodging her attacks with relative ease with his high speed. When she started to calm down, he smirked. "Tch. Nice job," he mumbled. Feedback was something that he needed to give them, but he really wasn't one for compliments.

Viera returned his smirk with her own, his words calming her just a bit. Her arm turned back into a normal arm, which she instantly rewrapped.

"Now, Fawn… Fight me, for real this time," he said, walking over to Fawn. The only sign of fighting he had on his body was the scratches from Viera's arm around his neck.

"Okay," Fawn said. She wanted to get back at him for being so mean, but there was a problem. She wondered how long it would take for him to notice.

There was an awkward silence in the field for a moment.

"Well?" Fame asked, tilting his head curiously after about five minutes.

"Fawn's magic is a reflect-type magic," Ephraim called. "You have to attack first."

Fawn nodded in agreement.

Fame's eye twitched. He then shrugged and charged forward with electrified fists, but Viera blocked him, making him come to a skidding stop. "The hell?" he asked, looking at her.

"Ya need to attack with a ranged attack," Viera explained.

"Oh, sweet…" Fame rolled his eyes. However, he jumped back. "Blue Sound Lightning: Heavy Metal Clap!" he called as the sound of a whammy bar and electric guitar sounded through the air and blue lightning bolts began to rain down around Fawn.

Fawn instantly materialized a mirror, which began to reflect back the lightning bolts, which Fame still dodged with ease.

"Well," Fame ran his fingers through his hair and flipped it out of his eyes. "That's… Useful," he said with a shrug. He was being sincere, or as sincere as he could be. He could see it was definitely a useful support magic.

Fawn nodded. "Thank you," she said in a small voice.

Fame then cleared his throat. "You dumbasses do know to protect the support mage, right?" he called. He rarely worked with support mages, but it was a rule that he remembered. "They can save your life in a pinch."

Everyone gave him a positive response.

"Now, Ephraim or Ella, I don't care," Fame said, flipping his hair.

Ella stepped forward. "Do you have any preference for my fighting?" she asked in a serious tone.

"Nah," Fame responded.

Stellar magic surrounded her fists and she jumped into the air and called out, "Stellar Management: Shooting Stars!" With that, she punched into the air and a brilliant blast of dark blue and purple stellar magic was sent Fame's way.

Fame, not really expecting such an attack for a girl who seemed really down-to-earth, didn't actually dodge in time and was hit, being blasted back a bit. However, he realized instantly that it didn't actually hurt that much. He wasn't even knocked off-balance.

However, he was thinking about announcing something about underestimating opponents, but Ella was in his face, punching him in the jaw and knocking him back. It was a distraction, he realized. He slid back and then threw a punch at her, sending her flying as she was shocked, techno music playing through the field.

She landed a few feet away and instantly began forming a dark ball of her magic. She then called out, "Stellar Management: Planet Crash!" sending the ball forward.

Fame let the attack hit him, trying to figure out if her magic was more illusionary. However, when the ball exploded on impact and he was blasted back, staggered, he winced. It definitely had illusionary properties, but there was some damage, too. "Alright," he said. "Stand down. I think your magic is like, versatile or something. Ephraim, your turn."

Ella stepped back with the group and Ephraim stepped forward.

"Must I really do this?" he asked, his voice oozing with sarcasm.

Fame rolled his eyes. "Just attack me," he said.

Ephraim pulled a sheet of white paper from a holster and said, "Origami Magic: Dove Flock." With that, the paper began to glow with magic, a very pale blue magic circle appearing on it before it burst into about twenty small, paper doves that began to fly towards Fame.

"The fuck?" Fame's eyes widened at how many doves came from one piece of paper. He jumped into the air and shot his arm forward in an arc, calling out, "Blue Sound Lightning: Chord Wave!" The sound of an acoustic guitar strummed through the air as an arc of lightning came from his arm and ridded the area of doves.

However, when he landed on the ground, there were three paper boars waiting on him, all of which charged, hitting him and sending him flying across the field and into a tree with a loud thud.

"My apologies," Ephraim mumbled, though he didn't really sound like he meant it.

"I've got a question," Fame asked, standing. When Ephraim looked over at him, he asked, "Is your magic similar to Arc of Embodiment, only with paper?"

"If you're asking if I can make anything, then yes," Ephraim said. "However, my paper isn't infinite."

"'Kay," Fame responded, flipping his hair. "So, I like the versatility on this team. I think it will help a lot," he said, walking over to them.

"Are you not going to fight Shiloh?" Ella asked.

Fame ignored her. "I think I may be able to come up with some plans tonight on more training," he added since it was getting dark.

"Hey," Shiloh said, her eyes narrowing. "Are you really not going to fight me?" she asked.

Fame glared at her. "Tch, I know your magic," he replied.

"Still," Shiloh said. "It's unfair for you to not train me, too," she said.

"Fine," Fame huffed when he saw most people nodding in agreement. He then jumped back to distance himself.

Shiloh smiled at him and went to touch Cain's key, but as usual, the demonic celestial spirit just appeared beside her.

"You need me, Miss?" he asked.

"We're training," she said.

"Oh?" Cain turned and looked towards Fame with a smirk across his face.

"Go all out," Fame said with a shrug of his shoulders.

With that, Cain fired off a beam of shadows, which Fame rolled out of the way of. Shiloh then took out her tonfas-which had been returned to her- and jumped forward, swinging them at Fame.

Fame jumped back, dodging by just a couple of inches and then ducked to dodge another blast of darkness from Cain, who had ended up behind him. However, this left him open to an attack from Shiloh, and he ended up with her knee in his abdomen, making in him cough in pain. However, he recovered and his entire body sparked before he disappeared, appearing over Shiloh with lightning speed and rock music crackling through the air.

Not that it mattered, as Cain vanished in shadows in appeared in front of Shiloh, taking Fame's powerful punches for her.

Shiloh swiveled around Cain and attempted to hit Fame, who kicked Cain and boosted off of him to avoid all attacks, landing a couple of feet away.

"I feel that you two have fought before," Ella pointed out, by the way they seemed to predict each other's moves and dodge or block. She watched as darkness and the steel of Shiloh's tonfas clashed over and over again with Fame's lightning.

"Tch," Fame looked over at Ella for just a second, not feeling like explaining that he and Shiloh knew each other before they even knew Silver Griffin. After a few moments, he dashed away and stopped moving. "That's it… I think that's good for now."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Heya, guys! I went on a writing binge! I loved writing this chapter and just got a huge burst of inspiration for it. Unfortunately, I had to cut scenes out, though they will be put in next chapter, depending on something mentioned later in this note, hehe. I'll also be starting the OVA before I write another chapter, otherwise I fear that I won't get it done. But really, I have two tests next week, so I won't be doing much writing, haha. Hope you enjoyed._

_-A note because I feel as though this question will come up. Kai isn't affected like the others because he broke free for a small time during the experiments, it was mentioned that "the black haired one" broke free in another chapter, and he's the only one with black hair. He's having the headaches like the others, just not the visions yet. _

_*****TWO VERY IMPORTANT THINGS. PLEASE READ AND RESPOND IF YOU HAVE THE TIME AS BOTH AFFECT THIS STORY! I NEED SOME FEEDBACK ON SPECIFIC THINGS!******_

_**First off, this is the less important of the two, but it leads into the second one. HOW IS MY PACING/STRUCTURE, IN STORY? Like, I'm I going too slow? Too fast? Not showing enough character interaction and development? Showing too much interaction or development? What am I doing right in terms of pacing/structure? I feel sometimes that it may be off, but I personally can't see if it is well, and you guys may see things that I don't. I also don't know how easy my line breaks and such are to see and how easy it is to tell that time has passed.**_

_**Second, I have a LOT planned for the next chapter or so… But I don't want to show things that you guys aren't interested in, so I'm making a poll about what scenes you'd like to see, just over the next couple of chapters, mostly involving these two teams, but some extras as well. So, if you got the time, go vote on my poll. If the option gets… Five votes, I'll show it, and you can vote for all of them, if you want. Feel free to voice your opinions on the poll or give ideas via PM or review, loves.**_

_Anyway, thanks, for those who took the time to read that and who take the time to vote. It's SOOOO appreciated. There are some things that are mandatory, like the continuation of these team missions-some of Julius's team training and plot things, but a lot of things on the poll, I don't feel to be mandatory. _

_**Review Responses**_

_**Thank you guys so much as always! Lots of love from me! Thank you for your opinions on the Valentine's OVA as well! Lots of love from me, once again! If you ever have ANYTHING you feel that you should say, say it! If you don't wanna write it in a review, then PM me! I'm actually really approachable!  
><strong>_

_-DragonSpirit996 – I'm happy you enjoyed it! If you're curious about Sonata's companion, feel free to message me and I'll tell you plans. Don't wanna spoil it for everyone~ c:_

_-Saibaa – I think Charlie went over really well with a lot of readers, hehe. :3 One of the many obligatory hotspring scenes for the win! :D Hope this was a bit of a rollercoaster for you. :P And I have something similar to that planned for the OVA, hehe._

_-FrozenBlast13 – Yeah. I'm happy you like my decisions with that, and that pretty much describes Fame, yes. Yeah. I chose a soft ending because of how many emotions were in this chapter, though it had a soft ending as well._

_-Icera – At least someone thinks Fame's sense of humor is funny! XD He's so mean! And Sonata is adorable. :P Glad you liked the chapter._

_-LightandDarkHeart – Of course not! XD I just kinda imagine a lot of people with glasses with that quirk, hehe. Also, you can pick where Julius trains his team, if you wish. Just PM or review with it. It needs to be close to Nadeshiko, as they don't have much travel time._

_-Vaerith – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! XD_

_-Death Obelisk – No problem~ I haven't watched One Piece, so I wouldn't know, sorry. ^^; I had no real inspiration for the scene. It just wouldn't make sense for the building to blow up and cause attention, which was my original intention. I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! :3_

_-JustanSpecialist – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter~ No problem about the reviewing! I understand! :3 Yeah, Team Crystal's first mission is over. :3_

_-puffypuffin3 – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry for the lack of updates! After this chapter will probably be another wait since I'll be working on the special! Fame x Rylen has actually gotten multiple mentions, so that will most likely happen, just because of that, and it would be amusing. I also really, really love your idea of Fortune x Ephraim, and they will probably have a love triangle thing, or something of the sort anyway. And some of the flirty guys will have their friends fall for them, quite possibly. :3 And I envisioned Fawn falling for a hoodlum as well, as well as many other weird pairings. Lots of triangles and confusion for the people who aren't shot. I do plan for chaos to break out afterwards, too. XD I really love your ideas, though! I'm not mentioning all of them because I don't want to spoil it too much for you!_

_-Origm2012 – Marionette is supposed to have an indifferent personality, but she'll be a dynamic character throughout. I loved the obligatory bathhouse scene, haha. They'll probably be others later. XD I'm surprised you find Fame to be fun. He's so mean. The poll that's mentioned in this author's note will be a tease, too. XP_

_-Barrett M107 – I like dropping bombs. XD They'll probably be lots more worry for the characters this arc, and next arc, but not the arc after that, maybe. Obligatory bathhouse and beach scenes are a must. I'm saving the beach scenes for this summer, though, and it'll probably be a super-ecchi OVA. :I Yeah, I try to do chill chapters to relieve some tension in the story, and make people forget about tensions for a bit. XD I'm really happy you think that about my writing style! It means a lot to me, really! And I try really hard with the characters. Some have similar personalities, but I like them to be original in their own ways._

_-reven228 – I'm glad people are excited for the OVA. :P It makes me really happy. Anyway, I'm happy that the story quality is still good. I worry sometimes, haha. ^^; I've actually got something planned for Varis for the OVA, that should be fairly amusing. :P_

_-DarkHyena – I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! I'm so happy that this fic is going so well. O.O_


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